Smokers shamed by tannoy for lighting up outside Yorkshire hospital

Smokers stopping for a cigarette break outside a Yorkshire hospital are being shamed by pre-recorded loudspeaker announcements telling them to stop.

Wakefield’s Pinderfields Hospital is part of the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which implemented a total smoking ban across all its sites in March.

Anyone seen flouting the ban at Pinderfields can now be publicly shamed at the push of a button.

One of nine messages – some of which are read by children – will then be broadcast outside the hospital’s main entrance, which has traditionally been a popular spot among smokers.

One message says: “Please don’t smoke outside our cancer centre. We have lots of poorly patients who would really appreciate it if you didn’t.”

Another says: “Excuse me, do you think you could put out your cigarette? Someone’s nanny, granddad, mummy or daddy, is having their cancer treatment today. Thank you.”

This approach was introduced after ‘no smoking’ signs failed to stop people from lighting up.

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Iain Brodie, general manager of facilities at the trust said: “If a member of the public or staff sees someone smoking, they can press a button in the main reception to activate a voice message, which can be heard loud and clear, outside the main Pinderfields Hospital entrance asking smokers to extinguish their cigarettes.

“We’ve introduced the system because it’s vital we take every possible step to discourage smoking.

“Patients and visitors, including new born babies and those arriving by ambulance, often have to pass through cigarette smoke at our hospital entrances, which is totally unacceptable.

“Our goal is to have smoke-free sites, and the ability to broadcast these messages is a crucial step towards this.”

Simon Clark, director of pro-smoking group Forest, told the BBC: “A better solution is a comfortable smoking area away from the hospital entrance but not so far that it discriminates against those who are infirm or less mobile.”