Hospital boss in stop smoking plea as new ban comes into force

Patients, staff and visitors will be fined up to £50 if they ignore orders not to light up around Sandwell Hospital.

Wardens have been brought in to patrol the grounds, while red lines have been painted at the site boundaries marking the spot where people can and can't smoke.

"Dummy" fines have been issued to smokers over the past month to warn them of the changes. Those seen lighting up on the grounds will first be told to stop. If they ignore the order or are seen smoking at a later point, they will be issued with a fine, which will drop to £25 if paid within 14 days.

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Toby Lewis, chief executive of the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, which runs Sandwell General and Birmingham City Hospital, where the ban has also come in, said staff have a responsibility to lead the way and to set an example to patients and visitors by not smoking.

Staff will be encouraged to quit and will have access to support clinics. A vaping shop has also opened at Sandwell Hospital, offering 30 per cent discounts in a bid to encourage NHS workers to change their ways.

It is a move that might raise eyebrows, but Mr Lewis quoted advice from Public Health England that vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking and therefore a much safer option than cigarettes. He added non-smokers would never be encouraged to take up vaping.

Changing attitudes

Mr Lewis said: "It's difficult. If you come to a hospital and see NHS staff smoking outside you may get a little bit confused. It is about changing attitudes and it's about saying it's ok to be honest with each other, smoking isn't a bit of a nasty habit or something naughty that you do, smoking kills."

The smoking break has been entrenched in offices and other workplaces up and down the county for decades but the NHS chief questioned the practice of smoking during working hours, drawing a comparison with drinking which clearly wouldn't be acceptable.

Mr Lewis said: "There's no such thing as a smoking break. Staff take the breaks that are required by law, we want our staff to be rested and we can support staff to do that. All of our staff have access to paid support clinics and to nicotine replacement and massive discounts - 30 per cent discounts - for vaping materials.

"If a member of staff absolutely wishes to smoke they have to go off site.

"Our message to staff, our message to patients, our message to visitors is you wouldn't be a patient in a hospital and say I'm nipping out to the pub, you wouldn't come to work as a member of staff and say I'm going to take a break because I need to have a drink.

"Cigarettes are, of course, slightly addictive, but our message is if you're working for the NHS we think when you're working for the NHS you should choose not to smoke."

"There are some things you can't do at work. We're saying we really don't want you to smoke.

"I'm absolutely chuffed to bits with the dozens and dozens of staff that have used our smoking ban as an explanation for changing their smoking habits. We want people to give up cigarettes."

Long time coming?

Smoking was banned in pubs and other public places in 2007 and the move had such an impact that non-smokers can generally get through daily life without having smoke imposed upon them, something which was once commonplace.

So why has it taken so long for hospitals - by their very nature places which should have the very highest health standards - to catch up?

Mr Lewis said it was about being able to properly enforce a ban.

"We needed to be confident we had got all the support in place to help people to quit. There's no point simply putting up signs telling people off," he said.

"What we've seen over the last 12 months is a massive increase in the number of people vaping and the number of people using nicotine replacement.

"Everybody who smokes knows that cigarettes are not a good idea, we need to help people quit. Just telling people off isn't gonna work and in terms of pubs I think pubs have led the way.

"Twenty years ago you would go into a pub, you didn't need to smoke because you would take in so much second-hand smoke and got pretty much the same effect. I think if you can do it in the entertainment and hospitality industry then you can do it in the health business.

"What we're saying is we're not a national sickness service we're a national health service so this is a really important change for the local population and for our staff.

"Our first-class security team helping to enforce and we've brought in extra wardens as well. I hope that everybody plays a part. There's a children's ward on the ground floor - yesterday there were people stood outside having a cigarette with open windows and smoke potentially blowing into our children's ward. I think all of us should feel able to step in and have a word.

"If people step over the red lines that mark the boundary and if they absolutely must smoke, rain, snow, sun that is the place for them to smoke but this is about getting people to quit and that's the plan."

Any fines will generate revenue for the trust but Mr Lewis is adamant the policy will not be used as a cash cow.

He said: "This isn't about making money. I hope we don't fine anybody. This is about getting people to quit smoking."