Staffordshire’s main hospital trust will become completely ‘smoke-free’ in a year – independent of a proposed national ban. University Hospitals of North Midlands is aiming to stop all smoking in its grounds by January 2026, with bosses admitting there is currently a ‘serious problem’ with people using cigarettes and vapes at building entrances.
The government is looking to ban smoking outside all hospitals and schools in England through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. It remains unclear when such a ban will come into force, and how it will be implemented.
But UHNM, which runs both the Royal Stoke and the County Hospital in Stafford, is already looking at eliminating smoking by staff, patients and visitors anywhere on its site.
Chief executive Simon Constable told a trust board meeting that this would require support being provided to each of the affected groups.
He said: “Becoming smoke-free on-site is something that was raised at the AGM and I know it’s been discussed by the board before. But it becomes a different priority if legislation is coming into force that bans smoking on-site, regardless of anything we do internally. So this is an opening gambit as to how we approach this as an organisation. How we make it possible without unintended consequences, with support for both staff and patients and their visitors.
“There’s a whole multitude of things that will need to be put in place for a wider staff and patient group, which is why we’re starting engagement with the public and staff. Simply saying we’re going to be smoke-free isn’t going to do it. The strands will be different for patients and staff with regards to tobacco dependency and what offers we make to them, as well as empowering staff to challenge both each other and patients.”
In his report to the trust board, Mr Constable notes that people continue to smoke at the entrances to buildings ‘despite clear signage’, and says that ‘at the very least’ staff and patients should be using the smoking shelters until the site-wide bans come into effect.
During the latest Stoptober campaign, UHNM’s tobacco dependency service asked staff to issue brief cessation advice in almost every consultation with patients who smoke.
Stoke-on-Trent has had a particular problem with smoking among pregnant women, but the introduction of a maternity smoking cessation offer is having an impact. The latest UHNM figures show that the proportion of mums who are smoking at the time of delivery has fallen from around 11 per cent 2022/23 to below 8 per cent at the start of this year, which is closer to the national average.