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Agency urges hospitals to send out clear message
on smoking
As Altnagelvin
Hospital confirmed today that it provides smoking rooms
for staff and patients, the Health Promotion Agency for
Northern Ireland urged all hospitals to unite in banning
all smoking from their buildings.
Expressing his disappointment about the provision of smoking
rooms in Altnagelvin Hospital buildings, Dr Brian Gaffney,
Chief Executive of the Health Promotion Agency said:
“We are surprised to hear that Altnagelvin Hospital has not taken a clear
stand against smoking as it is a member of the World Health Organization Health
Promoting Hospitals network. As a member of this scheme the hospital is obliged
to strive towards being a model for healthy services and workplaces (1). In 1997
a set of recommendations was adopted by this network stating that hospitals have
an enormous potential in the fields of health promotion and disease prevention
and that realising this potential could optimise their use of resources (2).
This could free up money to be directed not only toward care and cure of existing
patients but towards promoting and protecting health in its broader sense.
“We
are hopeful that over time a ban will be introduced on
smoking in all public places. We
would be keen to see
hospitals and health professionals, familiar with the devastating
consequences of smoking, taking a lead in encouraging no-smoking
to become the norm. It is wrong to accept smoking in hospitals
where people are admitted for treatment often for disease
caused, or made worse, by this habit. We in the Health Promotion
Agency would be keen to work with anyone to achieve a cultural
shift in expectations so that people understand that hospitals
are places where smoking is never tolerated.”
Dr Gaffney continued:
“ Altnagelvin Hospital does have smoking cessation programmes
in place for staff and patients and this is good news. However,
people should not be facilitated in continuing an addictive
habit on site when this habit will not only lead to damaging
their own health but also costs the health service millions
due to sickness absence. It is encouraging that the Trust
is committed to working towards having a completely smoke-free
environment. We would urge health service staff, patients,
visitors and the public to support this hospital and all
hospitals in their endeavours to do what they can to make
smoking in such places a thing of the past.”
END
Notes
to editors:
- World
Health Organization. Health Promoting Hospitals. The
Budapest Declaration on Health Promoting Hospitals. Click
here to
view this document.
- World
Health Organization. Health Promoting Hospitals. The
Vienna Recommendation on Health Promoting Hospitals.
Click
here to
view this document.
For
further information:
Contact
Jenny Dougan at the Health Promotion
Agency on 028 9031 1611.
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