"No Smoking Site"

We welcome your comments regarding your experience at the RUH as it helps us to identify problems and improve the quality of our service and care. Thank you for your comments about the Respiratory ward at the RUH. We will forward on your comments to the staff of the Respiratory ward whom I'm sure will be very grateful for your kind words. The hospital site is a smoke free zone but, as you will appreciate, it is a very difficult job to maintain this. Despite sufficient signage at the main entrances and around site and our security staff stopping and speaking to ‘offenders’ when they are on patrol, many visitors choose to ignore the signs. The appearance of cigarette ends and litter not only adversely affects the appearance of the hospital but also the experience of those who attend, so a member of staff is employed specifically to keep the site tidy and free of cigarette ends. However, given the site is 53 acres and has many entrances, it is a continual battle throughout the day to maintain this. Bins with ash-tray tops have been removed from site to reinforce the no smoking message and have not been replaced by litter bins in ‘popular’ smoking areas to avoid the fire hazard of cigarette stubs being disposed of whilst still lit. The Trust operates a no-smoking policy throughout the site, which it tries to enforce, but has installed three smoking shelters to help keep the main entrance and other areas on site free from litter and cigarette ends. One is situated close to the main entrance but away from and out of the line of the sight of the entrance doors. Staff have been specifically instructed to not smoke outside the smoking shelters. However, if visitors and patients wilfully ignore the signs the situation can be very difficult to police, especially after hours, when staffing is minimal.