Hospital sites across the South West are being urged by Public Health England (PHE) to take steps to become tobacco-free to improve the health of their patients and staff.
This week Public Health England’s Chief Executive Duncan Selbie has written to every NHS Trust Chief Executive asking them to implement a ban on smoking by patients, staff and visitors across all hospital buildings and grounds.
Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive at Public Health England said in his letter: “I am asking for your help to reach smokers who are in your hospital waiting rooms, consulting rooms and beds.
“By working together I believe we can make the NHS a place which provides a supportive tobacco-free environment for patients, staff and visitors”.
In the South West several trusts have led the way with smoking bans on hospital grounds, while many more are working with other organisations including their local authority public health teams towards going completely smoke-free in the future.
Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust became an entirely smoke-free site 10 years ago, with a complete ban inside hospital buildings, the grounds and car parks.
A spokesperson said: “Policing the ban in the grounds of the hospital has been challenging but we are doing everything we can to enforce it and encourage patients, visitors and staff to give up smoking as we believe in leading by example to improve the general health of our population.”
Despite declines in smoking prevalence over recent decades, around 15.5% of adults in the South West still smoke and tobacco use remains the single largest cause of health inequalities and premature death.
For every death caused by smoking, approximately 20 smokers are suffering from smoking related disease.
Smoking during pregnancy is associated with a range of negative outcomes including miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth and neonatal complications.
The NHS brand is one of the most recognised and trusted in the UK. In his letter Duncan Selbie asks trust chief executives to work together to build on that trust by ensuring it becomes a powerful symbol of genuine health and wellbeing.
Russ Moody, Health & Wellbeing Programme Lead at Public Health England, South West said: “In the South West of England we have seen smoking rates continue to fall across the region and are now the lowest on record at 15.5%.
“This is good news but there is more work needed to encourage more smokers to quit and give them a better chance of staying healthy and avoiding conditions such as lung and oral cancers, coronary heart disease (CHD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and strokes.
“PHE believes that the NHS must support every option to become smoke-free and discourage smoking in a bid to improve patient health and the resulting burden on the NHS.
“In 2014-15 around 475,000 hospital admissions in England were attributable to smoking and the total annual cost is estimated at £2bn, with a further £1.1bn in social care costs.
“This will also be a key element in the preventative healthcare element of NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans.”