[Headlines Only] [Top Stories Only]
Categories
· Smokefree Policies
· Hospitals/Medical facilities
non-USA, by Country
· Australia

• Butt out on our hospital grounds 

Jump to full article: News Interactive Network/News Limited/News.com (au), 2009-09-25
Author: JILL PENGELLEY, BEN HARVY

Intro:

SMOKING will be banned on the grounds of all public hospitals from May 31 next year.

Nurses in uniform and patients in gowns have been a common sight smoking outside hospitals since lighting up indoors was banned in the 1970s.

Under the new rules, staff and patients will be offered "at-cost", or free, nicotine replacement therapy but the blanket ban seems certain to push some smokers out to the footpaths. . . .

The SmokeFree Australia coalition yesterday called for all Australian governments to make all workplaces smoke-free, including outdoors, after new studies showed smoke-free laws reduce heart attacks by even more than previously thought.

The introduction of the bans will coincide with World No Tobacco Day.

Jump to full article »