Letter Of The Month: A Smoke-Free P.O.W

By Mr Terry Clout, CEO, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District on October 9, 2012 in Other

???Dear Beast,

I refer to the article in the September 2012 edition of The Beast by a contributor, Smokey the Bear, ‘Hospital Sends Mixed Smoke Signals’, concerning persons smoking within the perimeter of the Randwick Hospitals Campus, which includes the Royal Hospital for Women and the Prince of Wales Public and Private Hospitals.

I was disappointed to read this article and learn of the experiences of Smokey the Bear at the Randwick Hospitals Campus and acknowledge the distress this has caused her and her family.

The NSW Ministry of Health’s Smoke-Free Environment Policy states that smoking is not to take place within the grounds of any NSW Health facility.

Enforcement of the policy continues to be challenging for our health facilities and services, but the Campus has in place a number of strategies to promote the policy and encourage persons who wish to smoke to refrain from doing so on Hospital premises.

These include:
• Promoting the existence of the policy to patients and the availability of Nicotine Replacement Therapy to patients during their stay.
• Providing clinics for patients and staff who wish to quit smoking.
• Installation of extensive signage and stenciling to alert persons entering the premises that they should not smoke while on hospital grounds.
• Mass communication about the Policy to hospital staff, including encouraging staff to approach persons smoking on hospital grounds and ask them to vacate the premises should they wish to smoke.
• Encouraging members of the public to proactively approach persons they observe smoking on hospital grounds.
• On-site patrols by Randwick Campus Security Officers who are able to request that persons observed smoking on site be asked to leave if they choose to do so.

While the Smoke-Free Environment Policy does prohibit smoking on Campus grounds, it is not yet illegal for persons to smoke in external areas of the Campus grounds.

The NSW State Government’s recently proposed Tobacco Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 includes changes that should give Local Health District Chief Executives possible scope to allow for enforceable fines to be issued to persons who are smoking within hospital premises.

The amendment also proposes to prohibit smoking in a number of outdoor areas, including the areas on the Campus noted in your contributor’s article. These amendments are proposed to come into effect in January 2013 and are presently at the Upper House awaiting further debate before hopefully being made into law.

The NSW State Government is committed to reducing rates of smoking within the community and thus reducing the exposure of non- smokers to environmental tobacco smoke.

I am a strong supporter of the Policy and regularly encourage the facilities throughout South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, which includes the Randwick Hospitals Campus, to consider additional strategies that may further increase the community’s cooperation of not smoking on hospital grounds.

Security staff, who are employed to cover the entire Campus, do in fact conduct patrols across the site and are empowered, along with all other Campus staff, to ask any persons smoking on the Campus grounds to leave the premises if they wish to smoke.

As your contributor has noted, there is also an abundance of relevant signage and communications on the Campus advising that as a condition of entry, smoking on the Campus grounds is prohibited. However, there are very limited options available in compelling patients and other members of the public on campus to comply.

Currently, there is limited scope for the establishment of such areas for certain categories of patients and I am advised that this will be further investigated.

I thank your publication and Smokey the Bear for bringing this to light and to my attention.

I trust this information is helpful in advising your readers and the local community as to the challenges associated with this policy and what is being considered to manage compliance with this policy by patients and members of the general public.

Let me assure your readers our staff are continuing to work to promote the Policy and garnering support and cooperation from the general community for a smoke-free environment on hospital grounds.

Yours sincerely,
Mr Terry Clout
Chief Executive, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District