Now that the anti-smoking lobby has become all-powerful, one of the multitude of Government QUANGOs, "The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence", has decided that it's time to push the boundaries even further. They want to ban smoking in all hospital grounds in England, whether the 'offender' be patient, visitor or staff.
No one can deny that smoking is bad for you. It causes a raft of illnesses and it's smokey and smelly; its odours stick to your clothes in an unpleasant fashion. However, the constant barrage of criticism of smokers, regular excessive price rises, gory packaging and bans galore have surely gone far enough unless the Government intends a total ban on the sale and use of tobacco products. If this is what it wants to do, it should get on with it, otherwise, it should back off.
None of the measures introduced to date appear to have done much to prevent children from sampling and becoming addicted to the 'forbidden fruit' of cigarettes any more than has a plethora of sex education stopped them from becoming sexually active at ever-younger ages. The sad truth is that banning smokers from smoking is of little use; it is stopping the addiction from being developed that matters and no one is doing anything about this.
The imbeciles sitting in their comfortable offices at the Institute seem not to have thought about their latest pronouncement very carefully. People in hospital, whether patients, staff or visitors, are nearly all adults; their lifestyles have been developed and changing them is far from easy. Banning all smoking on hospital property would have a number of unwelcome consequences.
Firstly, the availability of staff would be reduced as many of them no doubt smoke; regardless of the known dangers, a habit caught in childhood proves very difficult to break and some may be unable, or not even want, to break it - are they to be sacked ?
Secondly, most patients are elderly with habits formed over lifetimes of many decades; for some, one of their few remaining pleasures may be a cigarette now and again - are these people to be denied a little pleasure at a time when they are already sick and, perhaps, dying ? My own grandfather gave up smoking on medical advice when it was already too late, and 'enjoyed' 5 years of increasing incapacity, which turned into a living hell, rather than 2 years of relative happiness. After smoking for 50, 60 or 70 years, can there be any justification for depriving such people of an occasional drag ?
Thirdly, if there is to be nowhere that people can smoke, some may decide that going to hospital is not for them; they'd rather put on a brave face and hope for the best, while sitting at home and getting out a packet of their favourite brand. The result of such a move would be, inevitably, that such people would not be admitted to hospital until they are very ill and require much more intensive care than would otherwise have been the case.
Fourthly, have the Institute's experts given any thought to the calming effects that a little nicotine can have on an otherwise stressed smoker ? Do they actually have any understanding of the ways in which smoking acts, not scientifically but in real, everyday life ? While many smokers smoke because they enjoy it, for many it is an essential part of their lives; it is, after all, a narcotic addiction. To tell a prospective patient that they need hospitalisation for a week or two and, by the way, you won't be able to smoke, may be impossible to accept or, even if it is accepted, impossible to stick to. The result could be dangerously aggressive patients with nowhere to go.
Finally, there is universal acceptance that visitors can play an important role in the recovery of patients. However, knowing that there will be nowhere close by where they can nip off to have a quick smoke might easily deter many from bothering to visit. Smoking is not something that can be turned on and off like a tap; when the urge strikes, it has to be satisfied. Fewer visitors (and car park revenues) and longer recoveries could easily result.
I'm not a smoker and never have been. I don't particularly like others smoking, but this constant banging on about bans annoys me intensely. If the Government thinks it's wrong, BAN IT ALTOGETHER; stop picking away at it and do the deed. Stop the supply of cigarettes at source and make them prescription only for existing registered smokers. Yes, such a move would cause a few problems but it would be a clean and simple break with past behaviour, unlike the entirely ridiculous mess we currently have and that some want to make even more difficult, confused and unmanageable.
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