Staff, patients and visitors to Lincolnshire hospitals – including Boston’s Pilgrim hospital – will no longer be able to smoke on hospital grounds when a new ban comes into place next year.
Smoking is currently permitted within designated areas of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) sites at Lincoln, Boston, Grantham and Louth, but will cease entirely with effect from Monday, January 6, 2020.
The move is part of the Trust’s drive to provide a safer environment that promotes health and reduces harm from exposure to second-hand smoke.
It is also in line with The Health Act (2006) and The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) 2013 guidelines which state that all hospital sites should ideally be 100 per cent smokefree.
A spokesman said patients will be fully supported to abstain from smoking during treatment by being offered nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) in the form of patches and inhalators and will be offered a referral for ongoing support.
A Trust spokesman added that using E-cigarettes and vaping will still be permitted within outdoor areas of the Trust, “as long as it is not done in close proximity to others”.
