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Staff smoking in uniform

Posted By LadyinLilac

"Staff smoking in uniform"

About: Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske)

(as a parent/guardian),

I know that working for the NHS must be incredibly stressful. But the sheer amount of uniformed hospital staff who I have seen smoking around Treliske is astonishing. 

To address this issue I think that Treliske should have an internal stop smoking campaign. Is there something you can do or provide that'll help your staff? Patches? Safe vaping? Support group? Mentoring? 

When having treatment I certainly don't expect to be inhaling second hand stale smoke from someone's uniform. Not only that we had to move our car in the carpark to get away from drifting smoke from a group of nurses.

I feel that smoking is no longer frowned upon at Treliske and it should be. And it's obvious that staff are stressed and morale is low. 

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Responses

Response from Elizabeth Trew, Lead Nurse for Risk, Patient Safety and Patient Experience, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust 3 years ago
We have made a change
Elizabeth Trew
Lead Nurse for Risk, Patient Safety and Patient Experience,
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust

Submitted on 04/08/2020 at 15:30
Published on Care Opinion on 05/08/2020 at 09:03

Dear LadyinLilac,

Thank you for taking the time to share your story with us and please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you on here. I was very disappointed to read your post. There is a commitment at RCHT to a non-smoking environment on the hospital site and supportive measures to help staff and patients stop smoking.

The professionalism of our teams is taken very seriously and I am sorry that you witnessed not only members of staff smoking within the hospital grounds but also in uniform. Since you posted this story staff have been advised that they may not travel to and from the hospital in uniform ( all staff must change into their uniform once inside the main building) nor be congregating in groups thereby breaking social distancing rules. Please may I personally apologise for your experience which was unacceptable.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your story.

Elizabeth Trew

Head of Risk, Safety and Patient Experience

elizabeth.trew@nhs.net

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