Today sees the second reading of the Smoking Prohibition (National Health Service Premises) Bill.
It's a private members' bill proposed by Labour MP Tracy Brabin and few people expect it to become law.
Sometimes however what begins as a backbench initiative - even by an Opposition MP - develops legs and is adopted by government.
Anyway, Brabin was interviewed on BBC Look North on Wednesday and we might have gone head-to-head had I not been driving back from Cardiff. (I was asked if I was available but I wasn’t.)
The programme is no longer online but my comment that banning smoking on hospital grounds is “inhumane” was put to her and she did appear a bit uncomfortable.
She admitted that calling the police to remove a smoker from the grounds of Hull Royal Infirmary, as the hospital is alleged to have done, is probably not the best use of police time.
And she revealed she had been asked by an NHS hospital trust (Mid Yorkshire, I think she said) to put forward her bill.
You might think that NHS trusts have better things to do than lobby MPs to enact new legislation but it shows just how political these taxpayer-funded bodies are.
A BBC source told me the trust had also lobbied the local council to introduce a bye-law to make it an offence to smoke on the trust’s grounds but the council wasn’t interested.
If the local authority won’t act why the hell should central government get involved?
Anyway, I took the opportunity yesterday to write to Tracy Brabin and this is my email:
Dear Ms Brabin,
Please find attached a copy of our new report, Prejudice and Prohibition: Results of a study of smoking and vaping policies on NHS hospital trusts in England.
The accompanying press release can be read here:
In particular I would like to draw your attention to the foreword which I have posted below.
We completely understand why hospitals do not want to be seen to encourage smoking. Nevertheless, many smokers take comfort from smoking, especially when they are stressed or upset. It calms them and in an environment where much of their independence has been taken away, the act of smoking also offers a small sense of autonomy.
Again, we understand why hospital authorities don’t like the sight of people smoking around hospital entrances. Nevertheless, talk of people having to walk through clouds of tobacco smoke is greatly exaggerated.
Forcing smokers to leave the site and stand on public roads is, in our view, unreasonable and occasionally inhumane. In particular it discriminates against those who are infirm or immobile without third party assistance.
Our report recommends a compromise. One, restrictions on vaping should be lifted to give the smokers the choice of switching to a safer nicotine product. Two, to incentivise smokers to move away from the hospital entrance, NHS trusts should be encouraged to install comfortable, well-signposted smoking areas (or shelters).
We believe strongly that a caring, compassionate society should not be threatening people with fines or other penalties for the ‘offence’ of smoking in the open air, especially at a time when they may be at their most vulnerable.
I appreciate that behind your bill lies the best of intentions but there are two sides to this debate and I would be grateful if you would at least read the foreword to our report (below).
I also invite you to read this article, published yesterday by the online magazine Spiked following the publication of our report.
The headline, I should add, is a little misleading. No-one is suggesting smoking should be allowed back inside hospitals (although the problem of people smoking by the entrance is a direct result of the closure of the old hospital smoking rooms). We are however asking for some common sense and compassion when it comes to smoking outside.
Finally, can I draw your attention to the remarkable incident at Hull Royal Infirmary, reported by BBC Look North yesterday (on which you were interviewed). Incredibly, despite it not being illegal to smoke on hospital grounds, the police were apparently called to escort a smoker off the premises. How can that possibly be considered a productive use of police time?
Unfortunately, should your bill become law, the police could regularly be called to investigate such ‘offences’ with the result that otherwise law-abiding people could find themselves in court charged with the ‘crime’ of smoking in the open air where they are harming no-one but (possibly) themselves.
I do hope you will take these points into consideration before proceeding with your bill.
Kind regards.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Clark
Director, Forest
If I get a reply I’ll let you know.
Update: The second reading of Tracy Brabin’s bill has been put back to Friday March 22.