This hospital site is completely smokefree, because there is no safe level of smoking and secondhand smoke is harmful. We understand that this can be difficult if you are dependent on tobacco and are attending an appointment or visiting a patient and we don’t want you to feel stressed or uncomfortable.
You can buy nicotine replacement items such as nicotine gum, lozenges or an inhalator from the hospital public pharmacy – ask at reception where to find it, and this will help you to stay comfortably smokefree while you are here, as we know that you want to help to keep people safe and healthy.
The best thing you can do for your health is to stop and the best way of doing so is with support from your local stop smoking service, alongside nicotine replacement medication or a vape. If you are ready to quit for good, there is fantastic free support available from your local stop smoking service – find their details here.
Public Health England estimates that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking, and people who struggle to stop using support and medication alone are encouraged to try vaping as a way of stopping smoking entirely. Most newsagents sell vapes, and use of these is permitted in the hospital grounds, away from entrances and open windows.
NICE guidance NG209 recommends the use of vaping as a complete replacement for smoking, and whilst it recognises that vaping may not be entirely risk free, it is certainly far less harmful than continuing to smoke. As there is no safe level of tobacco smoking, the guidance recommends that people who vape stop smoking entirely to minimise their risk and that people vape only for as long as required to prevent them from returning to smoking.
