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Should non-smoking policy for psychiatric in-patients be more lenient? 

A survey at Mersey Care NHS Trust (a mental health trust) was published in the May 2008 issue of the Psychiatric Bulletin. It set out to explore the attitudes of in-patients across the General Adult and Old Age Directorates of the Trust towards hospital and government smoking policies, and towards the perceived effects of smoking on health and well-being. . . .

This study reinforces previous findings that smoking is more prevalent among psychiatric patients than in the general population. As the majority of in-patients, both smokers and non-smokers, felt that there should be smoking areas within psychiatric units, can any appropriate compromise be reached in view of the current legislation, ask the researchers?

It would be interesting to know, they say, whether these results are mirrored elsewhere in the country, and whether patients' views are changing following implementation of tighter smoking policies within NHS trusts. It would also be worth evaluating the level of compliance with such policies.

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