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Smoking in main entrance is out of hand

Story from nhs.uk

"Smoking in main entrance is out of hand"

About: Queen Elizabeth Hospital (London)

I have been using this hospital for the past 3 years and on every visit am disgusted by the amount of people smoking in the main entrance.

There are so many huge No Smoking signs in this relatively small area that it is a ridiculous sight when they are being so flagrantly ignored. The maternity and baby unit has windows above the entrance, which is also clearly signed to smokers yet they don't seem to care at all.

I found it very difficult visiting the maternity unit here when suffering from pregnancy sickness as the wall of smoke was even more revolting. I dread the thought of leaving the hospital with my new baby and having to wade through people smoking. It's the entrance to a hospital, not a pub.

Every single visitor to QEH using the main entrance is effected by this problem, when will the hospital end it? I've seen it done at St Georges in Tooting where they had successfully tackled this problem years ago. It may help a bit to remove the benches as these seem only ever to be used by smokers. I'm so sick of this that I will definitely be writing to my MP.

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Responses

Response from Queen Elizabeth Hospital 6 years ago
Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Submitted on 16/02/2018 at 09:44
Published on nhs.uk at 11:06

Thank you for your feedback.

I can only apologise that you were subjected to the smell of smoke of smoke when you visited the hospital.

The existence of large signs all along the glass entrance tunnel and surrounding area along with the removal of the ashtrays from the bin tops have done little to deter the smokers but all Trust staff are reminded to challenge anyone smoking on our sites.

If you like to discuss any of this further, please contact the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 020 8836 4592 or by email at pals.qeht@nhs.net. This would allow us to investigate the situation fully and give you a specific response.

Kind regards

Patient Experience Team

Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust

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