Hospital smoking ban idea 'stupid'

Declaring smoke-free footpaths around Dunedin Hospital is a ridiculous idea which would not solve the issues around smoking near hospital entrances, Richard Thomson says.

The motivation which drove seriously ill people out of their hospital beds, dragging their intravenous drips behind them so they could go outside for a cigarette, was not going to be stopped by making footpaths smoke-free any more than making the hospital smoke-free did, he told yesterday's board meeting.

He was commenting on a brief report from chief executive Brian Rousseau (who was absent), advising that the possibility of designating smoke-free footpaths surrounding the hospital had been raised with the Dunedin City Council.

An appropriate solution had to be found for people seriously addicted to nicotine, he said.

He supported the public health view on smoking and the work being done to help hospital patients quit the habit, and accepted it was not fair for the rest of the population to run the gauntlet of those smoking outside the building.

However, a footpath smoking ban was an ideological idea which would not work, he said.

"It's stupid."

Chief operating officer Vivian Blake accepted the front entrance was not " a nice gauntlet" to run and the idea of discussing a footpath ban had been seen as a pragmatic first step towards a solution to the problem.

Board member Peter Barron, who has repeatedly expressed concern that smokers were being stigmatised in a way which would not be tolerated for other addicts, said he was running out of patience on the issue and did not want to have to walk into another board meeting past smoking patients at the hospital entrance.

The board asked that an urgent solution be found, with Mr Barron saying he wanted it before Christmas.