WRH smoke free zone

Nypd

Just listening to the news and it has been announced that the WRH is a smoke free zone from today.
Smoking is no longer permitted on the grounds anywere.
My question, is this going too far and are the advantages of implementing this.
You often see patients hobbling down to the entrance for a smoke or attached to an iv enjoying a ciggie.

Are these patients now expected to leave the grounds of the hospital and what about the staff.

CardBordWindow

How are they going to enforce this?
Will they add a fine onto patients bills if they go for a smoke?

Nypd

CardBordWindow wrote: »

How are they going to enforce this?
Will they add a fine onto patients bills if they go for a smoke?

That was another thought that I had also

CardBordWindow

It seems like a radical step if you ask me. It's a massive public hospital, with lots of people using it daily, not to mind working there. It's not like a small pub, where you can hunt people out the door easily.
Unless they're gonna start selling Nicorette gum and inhalers in the shop....with a massive mark-up.

batm!ke

Doesn't seem workable. No harm moving people away from the front door and give smokers a better sheltered area somewhere else but to push it out completely won't work I would think.

merlante

Always thought it was disgusting all the sick people smoking in the doorway. Jesus, you'd feel ill just walking past them. I think it's fair enough. Hospitals are about health, and for every person that gets their fix, there's probably a few other people put out by it. People are just too nice to say.

CardBordWindow

merlante wrote: »

Always thought it was disgusting all the sick people smoking in the doorway. Jesus, you'd feel ill just walking past them. I think it's fair enough. Hospitals are about health, and for every person that gets their fix, there's probably a few other people put out by it. People are just too nice to say.

I agree with you regarding walking in through a wall of smoke before you get to the doors, but like batm!ke says, if there was adequate shelters away from the doors, it would cut out this issue. A complete ban is a bit extreme.

Max Powers

CardBordWindow wrote: »

I agree with you regarding walking in through a wall of smoke before you get to the doors, but like batm!ke says, if there was adequate shelters away from the doors, it would cut out this issue. A complete ban is a bit extreme.

Hard to see how it will be enforced but i think patients are allowed smoke somewhere, for all other smokers...sod them, they can get in their cars or walk to road

CardBordWindow

Max Powers wrote: »

Hard to see how it will be enforced but i think patients are allowed smoke somewhere, for all other smokers...sod them, they can get in their cars or walk to road

If patients can smoke somewhere, fair enough. But even at that, not every patient wears a gown, so it'll be difficult to enforce too so that visitors can't join them too.

giles lynchwood

The ban was brought about by WRH status as a regional cancer care center which make's perfect sense and show's respect for cancer treatment patient's attending the center.

www.waterford-news.ie/news/mhgbqlauau

looksee

I am totally anti-smoking and I agree with the thinking behind the ban, but its going to be difficult for patients, who already have plenty to worry about, to cope.

On the other hand patients who have no mobility have been cut off from their cigarettes ever since the 'inside' smoking rules were introduced, its not really all that different.

Nypd

giles lynchwood wrote: »

The ban was brought about by WRH status as a regional cancer care center which make's perfect sense and show's respect for cancer treatment patient's attending the center.

www.waterford-news.ie/news/mhgbqlauau

Which is fair enough, but why go to the extremes of banning smoking from the whole site.
All it will do is move the problem to a more visable area, the main gates !
Now people passing the hospital will see smokers, could they have not been more proactive with the decision making and moved smoking to a designated low visability area.
At least if someone was smoking outside the main entrance they could be directed to the designated area instead of being told to feck outside the gates.
It certainly would have made it easier to police.

wellboytoo

In the couple of other hospitals around the country that it has been enforced
in, they painted a blue line around the bondaries of the Hospital and there is No smoking for anyone within that area.
WRH are enforcing it the same way, and about time as far as I am concerned its a bleeding hospital, no smoking, anyone, staff , sick people, ffs some of you want to let patients smoke!!!! do you not see the contradiction in this?

Bards

Airports & Aircraft are smoke free, and people have no complaints about not being allowed to smoke Therefore the same should apply to the Grounds of Hospitals, as this is where people come to get better.

They (the smokers) need to show respect for themselves and others - I welcome this ban as it makes me sick to have to pass a cloud of smoke every time I go to see someone in the hospital.

giles lynchwood

It would be great if people using the hospital respected this decision and abide by it so that it does not need to be enforced as stated in other post's it is a hospital after all.

angelfalling

Oh no... people who are sick in a hospital have no where to go for a smoke... neither can doctors and nurses......................

It's a hospital. You have to wait until you are either off work or healthy to have a smoke. Boo hoo.

AdMMM

Wish they'd ban it city wide to be honest. One can always dream...

ziedth

I'm neither pro or anti smoking but I think it's a terrible idea. Granted I'd be all for not having it at the front door but I can only see a complete ban leading to problems. What are they going to do? Physically force someone to the ground to stop them having a fag on the way to the car park i'd be interested to see does it work out.

alibab

If you work there then if caught smoking it will be disciplinary action as in written and verbal warnings . I am a non smoker so doesn't effect me but i do know a lot of people are upset by it . Dont know if i agree with it or not yet

Nypd

Drove past earlier and a group of elderly enough ladies were huddled together smoking at the front gates.

mathepac

Smokers must rate as one of the most selfish groups in society.

I recently visited the Coombe Hospital Dublin where my sister-in-law gave birth to her first child. Every time I visited there was a queue of smokers lined up on either side of the ramp leading to the main entrance, a lot of them in HSE uniforms, puffing away and dropping butts on the ground in close proximity to the huge "No Smoking Area" sign.

Kitchen / cleaning staff (complete with rubber-gloves !!) puffing away outside open kitchen doors and dumping butts on the ground was another not-so-pretty sight.

My niece and her mother had to wait on the smoke-polluted entrance ramp while my brother got the car to ferry them home.

It's time to call and end to this filthy practice on hospital grounds and make smokers pay for cleaning up the mess they create UHG, WRH well done. Where next?

eeloe

As a fresh "non smoker" i think it's a great idea....

As was mentioned previously, airports and aircraft are smoke free, and not many people kick up a fuss about that, so having a hospital being smoke free is a great step.

Cabaal

CardBordWindow wrote: »

How are they going to enforce this?

Don't worry they will,
People used to say the same thing about the smoking ban years ago when it first came in.....how can they enforce it/sure that won't work I'll just smoke in the bar if I want to and other such nonsense. Again don't worry they will.

A hospital is a place for sick people, its insane that some people think its ok to smoke on its grounds considering the insane amount of money it costs the health service each year and also the amount of damage it does to those that smoke and people who inhale the smoke around them.

snuggles09

I was down in Cork University Hospital last week and it's already in force down there..the grounds are vast with lots of buildings and there are signs everywhere, I didn't see one cigarette butt of one person smoking ( i was keeping an eye out as i'm a smoker myself )

robtri

Cabaal wrote: »

A hospital is a place for sick people, its insane that some people think its ok to smoke on its grounds considering the insane amount of money it costs the health service each year and also the amount of damage it does to those that smoke and people who inhale the smoke around them.

the insane smoking costs the HSE every year.....
where u getting that from??

the HSe estimate that tobacco related illness account for 15% of their healtcosts... they spend just over 14billion a year... so just less than 1 billion is spent in healthcare costs for tobacco....

according to the revenue, the government take in over a billion a year from tobacco......

but in saying that .. i am delighted to hear that the WRH is now smoke free ...

200motels

They won't be able to enforce it as it's not a law. And all the non smokers out there get off your high horses and stop telling people who enjoy smoking what to do, they are after all a legal product and highly addictive.

mathepac

200motels wrote: »

... And all the non smokers out there get off your high horses and stop telling people who enjoy smoking what to do, they are after all a legal product and highly addictive.

I have no problems what substances people consume as long as they don't create consequences for my family and I.

I don't want people stinking of tobacco smoke around me in hospitals, maternity hospitals in particular. I don't want people indulging themselves in their addictions in inappropriate places or where where such indulgence is banned.

I don't want to have the detritus of their indulgence littering the places I walk around or live in. I don't want staff paid out of the public purse as I saw in the Coombe hospital taking cigarette breaks while the smoke blows back into the hospital kitchens and the butts get tossed on the ground. It takes eight years for the cellulose combination in a cigarette filter to break down. The paper and tobacco bio-degrade fairly quickly but that's still not an excuse to throw them around willy-nilly. Smokers, tidy up your act.

So I will not as you so rudely put it be getting off my high-horse anytime soon, not until there are massive changes in smokers' selfish, self-centered behaviours.

Nypd

mathepac wrote: »

I have no problems what substances people consume as long as they don't create consequences for my family and I.

I don't want people stinking of tobacco smoke around me in hospitals, maternity hospitals in particular. I don't want people indulging themselves in their addictions in inappropriate places or where where such indulgence is banned.

I don't want to have the detritus of their indulgence littering the places I walk around or live in. I don't want staff paid out of the public purse as I saw in the Coombe hospital taking cigarette breaks while the smoke blows back into the hospital kitchens and the butts get tossed on the ground. It takes eight years for the cellulose combination in a cigarette filter to break down. The paper and tobacco bio-degrade fairly quickly but that's still not an excuse to throw them around willy-nilly. Smokers, tidy up your act.

So I will not as you so rudely put it be getting off my high-horse anytime soon, not until there are massive changes in smokers' selfish, self-centered behaviours.

It was only a matter of time before this debate attracted posts like this.
Which brings me back to one of my original points,
Why didn't the HSE deal with this problem before and move and contain it.
In fact city wide there is little facilities to deal with fag butts,
people smoke they have done for years and will continue to do so for many years to come, the ciggerete companies have seen to that.

It's very easy to throw words like indulgence and addiction around when I'm sure a percentage of smokers would love to quit, and have tried and failed, I know I for one have.

angelfalling

ziedth wrote: »

What are they going to do? Physically force someone to the ground to stop them having a fag on the way to the car park

No, fine them.

calerbass

Nypd wrote: »

Just listening to the news and it has been announced that the WRH is a smoke free zone from today.
Smoking is no longer permitted on the grounds anywere.
My question, is this going too far and are the advantages of implementing this.
You often see patients hobbling down to the entrance for a smoke or attached to an iv enjoying a ciggie.

Are these patients now expected to leave the grounds of the hospital and what about the staff.

Hi there, I think i should put the record straight with WRH and its new smoking ban.

First of all, i laughed and laughed when i heard of this new ban.

The reasons being is that i worked in WRH for over ten years, and was involved in the introduction of the smoking ban etc.

Now...........when the smoking ban became law, the management and the environmental officers based on the Cork road, whose job it was to follow up on complaints, were shown and identified culprits that were smoking inside the building, told me that their will never be anyone prosecuted for smoking in WRH because and i quote " we will be only prosecuting our own, that being the manager of the hospital - <snip>" so their you go...........remember they are investigating their selves, those environmental officers are all ex nurses.
So they will never be anyone prosecuted in WRH for smoking and the only people that will be tortured will be the security staff, chasing people and getting hassle for it, when the crowd on the cork road are supposed to be doing it. I would only hope that the security staff kick up over this, because the people meant to do the job wont be doing it.

Further to that, if anyone wants to do an FOI, their has been nobody ever been prosecuted in Ireland for smoking in a hospital, it really was a law to screw the pubs.

Im all for no-smoking, but they are'nt half making fools of people.

They would make you sick.

calerbass

alibab wrote: »

If you work there then if caught smoking it will be disciplinary action as in written and verbal warnings . I am a non smoker so doesn't effect me but i do know a lot of people are upset by it . Dont know if i agree with it or not yet

Hi, disciplinary action cant happen, because im sure no smoking would have to be written into their contracts etc, and its the manager/owner of the building who is prosecuted not the smoker.

merlante

calerbass wrote: »

Hi there, I think i should put the record straight with WRH and its new smoking ban.

First of all, i laughed and laughed when i heard of this new ban.

The reasons being is that i worked in WRH for over ten years, and was involved in the introduction of the smoking ban etc.

Now...........when the smoking ban became law, the management and the environmental officers based on the Cork road, whose job it was to follow up on complaints, were shown and identified culprits that were smoking inside the building, told me that their will never be anyone prosecuted for smoking in WRH because and i quote " we will be only prosecuting our own, that being the manager of the hospital - <snip>" so their you go...........remember they are investigating their selves, those environmental officers are all ex nurses.
So they will never be anyone prosecuted in WRH for smoking and the only people that will be tortured will be the security staff, chasing people and getting hassle for it, when the crowd on the cork road are supposed to be doing it. I would only hope that the security staff kick up over this, because the people meant to do the job wont be doing it.

Further to that, if anyone wants to do an FOI, their has been nobody ever been prosecuted in Ireland for smoking in a hospital, it really was a law to screw the pubs.

Im all for no-smoking, but they are'nt half making fools of people.

They would make you sick.

All that being the case, if it is the case, in 5-10 years time, smoking in hospitals will seem like barbarism. If you had to employ more 'police' every time you brought in a new law, there'd never be any new laws. The point is that people are mainly self-policing. Look at the pubs. Try light up inside of Geoffs nowadays and people would look at you like you were pissing into a bucket. (And rightly so.) Sooner or later people fall into line, and old die-hards retire/move on/give up.

calerbass

merlante wrote: »

All that being the case, if it is the case, in 5-10 years time, smoking in hospitals will seem like barbarism. If you had to employ more 'police' every time you brought in a new law, there'd never be any new laws. The point is that people are mainly self-policing. Look at the pubs. Try light up inside of Geoffs nowadays and people would look at you like you were pissing into a bucket. (And rightly so.) Sooner or later people fall into line, and old die-hards retire/move on/give up.

You can be sure its the case......Whats going to pan out in WRH is that the security officers on low pay will be scurrying around trying to prevent the smoking, while the people getting paid to do the job with tax payers money sit back.

Self regulation never and does nt work in Ireland.......solicitors,gardai, the church, all examples.

And as sure as night follows day, their never has and never will be a prosecution for smoking in WRH, guranteed.

Hypocrisy..stand up and take a bow.;)

Cabaal

200motels wrote: »

They won't be able to enforce it as it's not a law. And all the non smokers out there get off your high horses and stop telling people who enjoy smoking what to do, they are after all a legal product and highly addictive.

err yes they can very much enforce it,

The hospital grounds are not a public space, its not comparable to walking down the street.

If the hospital want to restrict something on their own grounds they can do so and its perfectly legal, for example parking or if they didn't want people skateboarding on its grounds they can also do this.

They can do this in the same manner as a shopping centre can, it doesn't have to be law but if its private property owned by them (in this case the HSE) they can do what they want.

The request and the want to impose a ban on smoking on hospital grounds is very very reasonable when you consider the proven factual harm that smoking causes to people and those that inhale second hand smoke.

Nypd

It stills seems to be a far fetched plan,
Fair enough they will put it into security's remit to enforce.
Wonder how they will in force it on the next old lady who sparks up, I can see it now, granny's being restrained and escorted off the premises.

mathepac

Nypd wrote: »

... I can see it now, granny's being restrained and escorted off the premises.

Ah yes, the headline straight from Ireland's dimwits' daily, The Star

merlante

calerbass wrote: »

You can be sure its the case......Whats going to pan out in WRH is that the security officers on low pay will be scurrying around trying to prevent the smoking, while the people getting paid to do the job with tax payers money sit back.

Self regulation never and does nt work in Ireland.......solicitors,gardai, the church, all examples.

And as sure as night follows day, their never has and never will be a prosecution for smoking in WRH, guranteed.

Hypocrisy..stand up and take a bow.;)

Sure there are hardly ever any prosecutions for pubs because of smoking. How many raids do you think the gards carry out every week in pubs for smoking? I'll tell you. Zero. Because when society moves on, people regulate themselves. In the case of corruption in the professions, they are not regulated by the society because nobody knows what they're up to, so you need to put measures in place to regulate them explicitly.

calerbass

merlante wrote: »

Sure there are hardly ever any prosecutions for pubs because of smoking. How many raids do you think the gards carry out every week in pubs for smoking? I'll tell you. Zero. Because when society moves on, people regulate themselves. In the case of corruption in the professions, they are not regulated by the society because nobody knows what they're up to, so you need to put measures in place to regulate them explicitly.

I don't think you understand how the smoking issue works, its not the gardai's job to raid pubs for smoking breaches, their are environmental officers working for the HSE that do the investigating for smoking breaches, they don't raid the pubs, they will go to a pub and slip into the darker quieter corners of the pub, and then pop up and say you nabbed when the person lights up. But.....its the owner of the pub thats prosecuted, hence.....why you will never see a prosecution in WRH for smoking because their all the one!

Regarding no pubs being prosecuted, your wrong, the pubs were the only establishments they targeted in the first place as well as the odd taxi, bus driver etc.

calerbass

mathepac wrote: »

Ah yes, the headline straight from Ireland's dimwits' daily, The Star

An even better headline would be "security officers doing HSE's environmental officers job in WRH":D

Nypd

calerbass wrote: »

mathepac wrote: »

Ah yes, the headline straight from Ireland's dimwits' daily, The Star

An even better headline would be "security officers doing HSE's environmental officers job in WRH":D

HSE henchmen assault smoking war hero

wmpdd3

I had a baby out there a few weeks and it was the main subject of conversation on the ward.

I dont smoke and I was asked to 'keep an eye' on a baby while a woman went down for a cigarette. It was before visiting hours so she had noone else to do it.

I said no, I could bearly look after my own.

She was only going to the front door, imagine if she was going to the gates?

Anyway, the patients out there were agreed that they'd move their cars as close to the door as possible and smoke in them.... and then put their babies in them to bring them home!

I used to smoke and I would have signed myself out of hospital if I still did and had to stay in for 3 days.

My elderely neighbour smoked in the bathrooms there 3 years ago.

spookwoman

Who's idea was it to have the smoking area in front of the front doors in the first place? At least have a designated area for smokers away from the building and have shelter. Elderly patients are now being forced to walk over a hundred yards to have a fag. They are not going to give up the smokes at that age and why should they. What will happen if a patient falls on the grounds while heading out for a fag a the front gate?

looksee

I was in hospital (not WRH) having my last baby - who is now 25 - and was in a 'semi-private' ward with one other patient.

On more than one occasion the curtains were pulled right across creating an enclosure of half the room, some half a dozen women including the mother, were in this 'tent', along with the baby - and they were smoking.

It was not illegal at the time and no-one did anything about it, though I did grumble to a nurse about it.

Now fast forward 25 years and that seems incredible, but at the time it was not even commented on, and I had no rights in the matter. We are making progress though, and this ban by WRH is just another step along the way.

wmpdd3

14 years ago there was a smoking room in the maternity ward in wrh!

Nypd

looksee wrote: »

I was in hospital (not WRH) having my last baby - who is now 25 - and was in a 'semi-private' ward with one other patient.

On more than one occasion the curtains were pulled right across creating an enclosure of half the room, some half a dozen women including the mother, were in this 'tent', along with the baby - and they were smoking.

It was not illegal at the time and no-one did anything about it, though I did grumble to a nurse about it.

Now fast forward 25 years and that seems incredible, but at the time it was not even commented on, and I had no rights in the matter. We are making progress though, and this ban by WRH is just another step along the way.

It's mad alright hearing stories like that, I agree totally that a hospital is no place for smoking.
Having read the replies here iv made up my mind and don't agree with the total smoking ban.
Main points that I have made my decision is that
1. It could have easily be contained to an area away from the front door, non smokers have the right not to be subjected to passive smoking.
2. Patients having to travel to the main gate for a smoke, they are exposed to the elements and probably not fit to cover that distance

mathepac

Nypd wrote: »

... Main points that I have made my decision is that
1. It could have easily be contained to an area away from the front door, non smokers have the right not to be subjected to passive smoking.
...

Where smoking areas are supplied they are not being used, resulting in accumulations of rubbish (paper cups, sandwich wrappers, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, etc) as well as cigarette butts in the areas chosen by the smokers, often in proximity to the main entrance. Examples from personal experience are:

• The Coombe, Dublin
• UHG, both the main entrance and the one around the side beside the lifts, the entrances to the Children's Hospital, the Maternity Unit and the Acute Psych Unit
• OLCH, Crumlin, the main entrance where ambulances deliver and pick up sick children and the granite steps leasing to the old main entrance
• St Luke's Kilkenny and Kilcreene Hospital

Anecdotally the problem is a huge one at other hospitals, a combination of laziness and selfishness on the part of the smokers and indifference and a lack of enforcement by management. I have sheaves of complaint letters written, resulting in zero action.

Nypd wrote: »

... 2. Patients having to travel to the main gate for a smoke, they are exposed to the elements and probably not fit to cover that distance

I would argue that the walk and the fresh air might be of some benefit if the patients are ambulatory; if they are not ambulatory then staff need to intervene and make arrangements appropriate to the patient's condition and resource constraints.

Nypd

mathepac wrote: »

Where smoking areas are supplied they are not being used

Iwould argue that the walk and the fresh air might be of some benefit if the patients are ambulatory; if they are not ambulatory then staff need to intervene and make arrangements appropriate to the patient's condition and resource constraints.

Which asks the questions, if systems are in place and not being enforced already, will they even bother enforcing a much bigger policy, acting only to wind up staunch anti smokers.

Sorry your argument about it being good for the patients to walk to me is ridiculous, why should they be subjected to standing out on a road way in dressing gowns and possibly with IV's attached.

Jamerican

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I had a baby out there a few weeks and it was the main subject of conversation on the ward.

I dont smoke and I was asked to 'keep an eye' on a baby while a woman went down for a cigarette. It was before visiting hours so she had noone else to do it.

I said no, I could bearly look after my own.

She was only going to the front door, imagine if she was going to the gates?

Anyway, the patients out there were agreed that they'd move their cars as close to the door as possible and smoke in them.... and then put their babies in them to bring them home!

I used to smoke and I would have signed myself out of hospital if I still did and had to stay in for 3 days.

My elderely neighbour smoked in the bathrooms there 3 years ago.

This really bothers me. I am due in a few weeks, and if a mom asked me to watch her child while she went for a cigarette I would be disgusted. Clearly she didn't think of the well being of her child enough to stop smoking during her pregnancy or to watch her own damn child. I would never dream of asking some random stranger to watch my newly born child, while I went for a smoke, drink, etc. That is so disturbing.

I worked for one of the largest hospitals/schools in the states and it went smoke free too. About five times the size of WRH, so there was no easy escape if you wanted a smoke. You did see the random person lighting up, but for the most part everyone self regulated. There was no need for extra security, and you rarely saw a security guard. WRH will be fine, people will grumble but in a year no one will know of a different way.

Cabaal

Nypd wrote: »

Sorry your argument about it being good for the patients to walk to me is ridiculous, why should they be subjected to standing out on a road way in dressing gowns and possibly with IV's attached.

How about the argument that if they are not very mobile and they can't make it to the gates then not smoking will actually be good for them?

Hospital exist to make people better, hospitals do not exist to facilitate an addictive and dangerous habit.

I find this thread amusing, with people claiming "it'll never work", "they can't do that", "imagine the headlines", "I'll smoke anyway" etc, at this stage its actually pretty amusing.

Even just in my lifetime I've seen the war against smoking in this country been won at every corner, regardless of what smokers claim they'll do anyway they have lost every battle.

Examples of this are:

- Smoking on buses, used to be allowed but when the bans came in we all had to listen to "I'll smoke anyway etc etc".

- Smoking carriages on trains (we all had to listen to such gems as "its not fair that they expect people to be on a train for 1-3hours and not smoke anymore")

- Smoking in pubs/workplaces, oh we all heard the people claim they'd do this and that and smoke anyway, sure you might have some pubs do lock ins that allow smoking after hours etc but we certainly don't see those smokers light up like they claimed they would.

Now we have this, not smoking in the grounds of WRH a large hospital, a natural progression and one that will happen. The grounds belong to WRH so they can ban smoking if they wish, there doesn't have to be a law in place for them to do so.

Its also worth noting that while person they can't prosecute people for smoking under the law they can for littering and given they'll no longer be facilities in place to smoke if you drop that butt then you can be fined.

Also no facilities in the form of shelters means smokers will have to enjoy all the changes of mother nature in the form of wind, rain, snow etc, this will put off other smokers.

In time while people will bitch and moan this is yet another battle that will be lost by smokers, why?

Because society now see;s it as a socially unacceptable habit. We've gone from a age where you could smoke everywhere and i mean everywhere...planes, buses, hospital wards, government buildings, offices etc to a society that is aiming to basically ban smoking outright and this will happen in time.

If you even said to people in the mid 90's that by 2005 smoking will be banned in all Irish pub they never would have believed you, but just look what happened. The same goes for the ban on buses.

Don't expect a ban on smoking in WRH to be the last ban in place, it wouldn't surprise me one but if you'll see a ban on smoking in public parks like St Stephens Green & People's Park etc over time, sure it might take 10 or 15 years but we'll likely follow what has happened in other countrys.

deisemum

wmpdd3 wrote: »

14 years ago there was a smoking room in the maternity ward in wrh!

I had a lad there 14 years ago too and the smoking room was near the entrance to the postnatal ward opposite the nursery. It was a busy room and when you entered the ward the smell of smoke would hit you.

I now think it looks awful when you're going past the hospital to see groups of people smoking at the gates and footpath entrance. I hope the hospital put bins in place to avoid litter blackspots as I've seen some people having cans of soft drinks, bars of chocolate while out for a smoke.

ROCKMAN

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I had a baby out there a few weeks and it was the main subject of conversation on the ward.

I dont smoke and I was asked to 'keep an eye' on a baby while a woman went down for a cigarette. It was before visiting hours so she had noone else to do it.

I said no, I could bearly look after my own.

She was only going to the front door, imagine if she was going to the gates?

Anyway, the patients out there were agreed that they'd move their cars as close to the door as possible and smoke in them.... and then put their babies in them to bring them home!

I used to smoke and I would have signed myself out of hospital if I still did and had to stay in for 3 days.

My elderely neighbour smoked in the bathrooms there 3 years ago.

Ok thats any interesting point , What can the hospital do if a patient or vistor goes and smokes in their own car in the parking lot ,
Wouldn't you then be in your own property ? ??