''It's a clinical decision; it's not a board decision. There are no governance issues relating to smoking any more,'' Mr Roper said.
Board member Richard Thomson is unhappy DHB staff plan to implement a total smoke-free policy in the wake of the decision, without the full board's say-so. This month, the High Court at Auckland upheld the Waitemata District Health Board's total ban on smoking, which includes those who cannot leave wards.
Mr Thomson told the Otago Daily Times this week he still believed a total smoking ban was akin to forced treatment, and, in any event, staff needed to seek formal governance approval.
However, Mr Roper said the High Court decision removed any lingering fear that banning smoking was a breach of human rights. That ''emotive'' argument showed a lack of consistency, as other substances such as alcohol were banned.
Mr Roper said staff were correct to see the smoking ban as operational. Overall, health boards were moving towards banning smoking in all wards, and it was becoming unacceptable not to address patients' nicotine addiction.
''The board can no longer abdicate the responsibility for managing that addiction, which is what they can do when it's a voluntary thing.''
Cigarettes became a ''currency'' in mental health wards. Without them, wards had a better atmosphere, Mr Roper said.
As well as the serious health risk, nicotine interfered with the efficacy of psychiatric drugs.
Mr Roper was previously the consumer adviser for mental health at the health board. In that role, he was involved in the failed 2010 bid to ban smoking in all wards, which was voted down by the board. The doubts that caused the policy to be blocked were removed by the court's decision, he said.
