Welcome to our smoke free Trust
Smoking is a serious hazard to health which contributes towards the deaths of thousands of people each year across the UK. Smoking is one of the most common causes of heart disease and lung cancer, and can lead to several longstanding breathing problems.
Smoking is currently banned by law in all public indoor locations, and all of our hospital buildings are completely non-smoking throughout. From 5 July 2019, our Trust turned smoke free, which means no smoking on any outdoor areas of our sites. We support vaping in our grounds, but not in our buildings or entrances, and it will be in line with the current Public Health England advice.
It is our collective responsibility to ensure that people do not smoke anywhere on our sites, and in this we are supported by dedicated smoking wardens who are patrolling our sites, and by an external company who will police our ban through an on-the-ground presence backed up by CCTV. The maximum fine for anyone caught smoking on site is £50, and this includes smoking in cars on our premises.
Read our smoke free leaflet which tells you important information about the ban on smoking across all our sites:
Stop Smoking Services
Giving up smoking is difficult, but every year thousands of people make the decision to quit so they can lead healthier lives. If you want to talk to someone about giving up smoking, please ask your nurse or doctor. You can also find a Stop Smoking Service local to you here or to access support here: https://smokefreesandwell.co.uk/
Stop before the op
If you are due to have an operation, then cutting down or quitting is of vital importance. Smoking introduces many poisonous chemicals into the blood which can hamper recovery from an operation or illness. You may already have been referred to our smoking cessation service to help you give up smoking. Quitting smoking will help you recover better and more quickly from your operation and will help keep you healthier in future.
Enforcing our smoke free ban
We want and expect people to stop smoking on our sites. All of our staff are encouraged to ask smokers to stop smoking on site. Additionally we have smoking wardens and security officers on regular patrols.
We are enforcing our smoke free ban by fining people who contravene our status. This fine is maximum of £50 and £30 if paid within 15 days of notification.
On being seen smoking on our grounds, smoking wardens will request that the individual stops smoking and explain our smoke free policy.
Should the individual refuse and persist in smoking, the warden will take the name and address of the individual and will check their identity. The Trust will then issue them with a letter with:
- The date, time and location of being seen smoking
- An invoice
- Information about how to appeal
- A discount to £30 if they pay within 15 days
- Information on how to pay
The Trust will then continue to follow up notifications of fines to the individual’s address should they not pay within 29 days of receiving the letter.
The Trust employs directly smoking wardens and security staff plus an external provider, accredited by the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS).