|
|
 |
| |
| Ban forces patients onto street
for a cig |
Hospital urged to create area for
‘hardened smokers’
Patient David Collins outside the hospital |
PYJAMA-clad patients attached to drips have been forced onto
the street outside the Royal Free Hospital if they want a cigarette
following the introduction of a smoking ban.
Groups of smokers, some in wheelchairs, have become a familiar sight
outside the hospital in Pond Street, Hampstead.
The ban on smoking inside and outside the hospital, launched by
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone on October 10, has brought complaints
that an area should have been reserved for hardened smokers.
Richard Woods, from Camden Town, whose elderly mother was a recent
patient at the hospital, called the policy “draconian”
and a “disgrace”.
He said: “My mother was forced to go out onto the street in
her night clothes attached to a drip. One may argue that she did
not have to go but she has been a smoker for 55 years and going
cold turkey would cause her great distress.
“Why can’t the hospital provide just one area for people
to have a cigarette that doesn’t infringe on non-smokers? The
ruling is draconian and bordering on a police state.”
Smoker David Collins, a 52-year-old retired bricklayer who spoke
to the New Journal while having a cigarette in his wheelchair outside
the hospital, agreed the policy was too harsh.
Mr Collins, from Haverstock Hill, Hampstead, has been in the hospital
for two months with a broken arm and leg. He wheels himself outside
the hospital up to eight times a day to have a cigarette.
He said: “I have been smoking 20 a day since I was 16 so it
is very hard to give up. They can give you drugs to help you come
off but I can’t take them because I am on different drugs.”
Pam Gilby, secretary of residents’ group, the South End Green
Association, said: “They should have set aside a section of
the grounds for these people.
“Health-wise they need to be encouraged to give up but if they
have been smoking for years they can’t just give up like that.
It’s not particularly helpful for children walking up and down
that street every day to see patients outside and smoking.”
But a spokeswoman for the Royal Free said: “We have had a lot
of people saying that it’s great and it should have happened
a long time ago.
“All patients on admission are spoken to about their smoking
needs. There are several options that smoking patients can opt for,
including nicotine replacement therapy and referral to the various
stop-smoking services.
“As a health organisation we cannot be seen to encourage smoking.
The whole of the NHS in London will be the same by January next
year and several hospitals are already smoke-free.” |
|
Get to work on your tannin
BORDEAUX winemakers – long regarded as the world’s greatest
– are in trouble. Government health campaigns and strict enforcement
of French drink driving laws are causing a dramatic decrease in French
wine consumption.
FULL STORY
It all comes down to cash
AFTER confessing to not being able to swim the other week, I was deluged
with offers of help.
FULL STORY
|
