Total smoking ban at University Hospital given go ahead

[dutchman]

A total ban on smoking at the University Hospital site in Coventry has been approved this afternoon.

Visitors who ignore the ban could be escorted from the site at Walsgrave.

The whole site will be competely smoke-free from January next year.

The ban will mean patients, staff and visitors will no longer be able to gather outside the main doors to the hospital throughout the day to have a cigarette.

The move follows complaints that people have to walk through a ‘‘cloud of smoke’’ to get into the hospital.

Ian Crich, chief human resources officer, told a trust board meeting that the “underlining principle of this is to support people to stop smoking”.

Describing how security staff will be trained to deal with people flouting the new policy, he said: “There will be some challenges but those challenges will be appropriately met on a sliding scale.”

He later added: “We are certainly not planning to be draconian about this.”

Preparations for the introduction of the Smoke Free Grounds Policy are already underway at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, which runs the city hospital and St Cross in Rugby.

The scheme would see smoking, including use of e-cigarettes, banned from both sites.

It would cover all staff, contractors, and affiliated services along with external agencies, students, patients, visitors and any work based community duties.

No smoking signs will appear in public places to support the scheme.

[rebbonk]

“We are certainly not planning to be draconian about this.”

The little Hitler's will be out in force!

But I thought it was already a no-smoking site?

[dutchman]

But I thought it was already a no-smoking site?

Smokers have been congregating just outside the entrance and asphyxiating visitors.

[dutchman]

'Nightmare' continues for residents of ciggy street a year after the University Hospital smoking ban



Residents of a street near University Hospital in Coventry say they continue to be plagued by staff, patients and visitors smoking outside their homes.

Since a total ban was introduced in the hospital grounds in January last year, smokers have been congregating in nearby Hall Lane for a cigarette.

One neighbour said they’d even seen patients attached to drips standing in the street to smoke.

The problem was first highlighted within a couple of weeks of the ban coming into force, but residents say nothing has been done by the hospital to stub out the problem.

They say living in the street is unpleasant and that smokers standing outside their homes is “a pain”.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said: “It can be intimidating as there are lots of young kids staring at you. They can be aggressive at times.”

Another said: “It’s not pleasant having them down here. We’ve been to meetings at the hospital but they just say that there’s nothing much that they can do about it.

“They don’t seem to be enforcing it. I’ve seen people smoking all way up the path."

A petition was started to stop smoking in Hall Lane which was presented to Coventry council after gaining 322 signatures.

The council had considered issuing a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) to criminalise smoking in the street, but it was thought that it would lead to the prosecution of innocent residents and would move the problem onto other streets.

The report also stated that since the issues began when the smoking ban came into force, then the solution lies with the hospital.

Some residents also claim staff are using the street as a drop off zone and a car park, even parking on drives without permission, and that food and drink waste is dumped.

The city council said in one three-month period around 17 fines were handed out for littering, with nearly 70 per cent of those being handed to hospital staff.

The whole city has become one giant ashtray!

[dutchman]

Smokers are dumping PILES of rubbish outside University Hospital according to angry residents



People living near University Hospital are are taking matters into their own hands after smokers who have been banned from the site started dumping rubbish on the Sowe Valley path.

Two Wyken residents have started litter picking in their own time and say mounds of rubbish are dumped there every day.

Gary Haigh and his partner Helen first started voluntarily picking litter around 12 months ago, and they say it has got worse since a smoking ban came into force in the hospital grounds.

Gary said: “We often make trips down to the hospital end of the footpath to clear up the mess which has been left by everyone who has been moved on from the hospital entrance.

“Since the smoking ban came into place, we’ve seen a big increase in the amount of rubbish being dumped by the river and into the bushes.

“When people go out for a smoke they bring their drinks and lunch with them and just leave it dumped on the path.

“We can’t have bins here because they just get damaged themselves.

“It’s as soon as the smokers are moved on they move somewhere else and now it is here where they feel like they can just dump their rubbish in the middle of the path.

“It is a ‘don’t care attitude’ that people have and it is really disappointing.”

The Sowe Valley footpath is an eight and a half mile path that runs through several neighbourhoods in the city, including Clifford Park, Wyken and Walsgrave, which all run near to the hospital.

It is protected by the country code, which states that all litter must be taken home and people must protect the wildlife, plants and trees - something Gary says isn’t being done because of the rubbish.

He added: “I’m a keen wildlife photographer and this isn’t going to help the wildlife.

“When tin cans and bottles are left small animals and mammals can get stuck and potentially really hurt themselves.

“People just don’t think about what is around them.”

In the last 12 months, Gary and Helen have collected around 20 big bin bags full of rubbish which has been left by smokers coming from the hospital.

He said: “We collect two to three bags of rubbish every time we go up.

“We go up every two or so months so add that together for a year and it could be up to 20 bags. It is just ridiculous.”

The hospital have been approached for comment.