BMJ 2003;326:941-942 ( 3 May )

Editorials

Smoke free hospitals

An achievable objective bringing benefits for patients and staff

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast has often been in the media spotlight, attracting praise for the way it responded to three decades of intercommunal violence in Northern Ireland. Some recent news coverage was not, however, quite so positive. The hospital is nearing completion of a major new building development, and the BBC revealed how the hospital's management had decided to establish seven smoking rooms for patients and staff in it at a cost of £500 000 ($787 000; 723 000).¹ The decision immediately provoked condemnation from many sources. Dr Joe Hendron, a member of the Northern Ireland assembly and also a local general practitioner, argued that the move sent out the wrong signal at a time when health services should be encouraging people to stop smoking and Andrew Dougal, of the Northern Ireland Chest, Heart, and Stroke Association condemned the "abject failure" of the hospital to persuade people to quit smoking. Hospital . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Smoke free hospitals: Rising to the challenge

Hayden McRobbie, Cressida Darwin, and Peter Hajek
BMJ 2003 327: 811-812. [Extract] [Full Text]

Smoke free hospitals: Smoke free hospitals are unethical

Stephen Head
BMJ 2003 327: 104. [Extract] [Full Text]

Smoke free hospitals: Example was set in Canada

Colin M Mailer
BMJ 2003 327: 104. [Extract] [Full Text]

Smoke free hospitals: Challenges need to be faced

William McKee, Michael McBride, Deirdre O'Brien, Antony Stevens, and Christine Burns
BMJ 2003 327: 104. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Smoke free journal?

Kamran Abbasi
BMJ 2003 326: 0. [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• McRobbie, H., Darwin, C., Hajek, P. (2003). Smoke free hospitals: Rising to the challenge. BMJ 327: 811-812 [Full text]  
• McKee, W., McBride, M., O'Brien, D., Stevens, A., Burns, C. (2003). Smoke free hospitals: Challenges need to be faced. BMJ 327: 104-104 [Full text]  
• Head, S. (2003). Smoke free hospitals: Smoke free hospitals are unethical. BMJ 327: 104-104 [Full text]  
• Mailer, C. M (2003). Smoke free hospitals: Example was set in Canada. BMJ 327: 104-104 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Outdoor passive smoke

Phillip J. Colquitt
bmj.com, 2 May 2003 [Full text]

Smoke free hospitals in Japan

Hiroshi Kawane, et al.
bmj.com, 2 May 2003 [Full text]

The Right to Breathe

Aviva Sheb'a
bmj.com, 3 May 2003 [Full text]

Witch-hunts for Smokers

Peter A Sims
bmj.com, 3 May 2003 [Full text]

Smoke free hospitals

Richard F Gunstone
bmj.com, 5 May 2003 [Full text]

Re: Smoke free hospitals are unethical

Stephen Head
bmj.com, 5 May 2003 [Full text]

Smoke free hospitals

Julia Kuczynska
bmj.com, 9 May 2003 [Full text]

What about the frail, ill, elderly?

Conor P Maguire
bmj.com, 10 May 2003 [Full text]

Smoking rooms are wrong

Alexander J Clark
bmj.com, 15 May 2003 [Full text]

What it's like in a smoke -free hospital

colin m mailer
bmj.com, 18 May 2003 [Full text]

Smoke free hospitals-facing the challenges

William McKee, et al.
bmj.com, 23 May 2003 [Full text]

Radical action on smoking is needed

Jocelyn R Forsyth
bmj.com, 5 Jun 2003 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more >>