May Day for smokers in ACT Health

There are now only 2 designated smokers areas at TCH, one for patients and one for staff. The patient one is right at one end of the building and quite inconvenient, and the staff one is on the Yamba Dr side of the A&E Building so that everyone can drive down Yamba Dr and point at health professionals performing unhealthy acts!! On a positive note though the hospital has made nicotine patches free for both groups for 4 weeks with a further 4 weeks extension if necessary and staff are able to access a smoking cessation course called “Fresh Start” through the workplace.

deezagood said :

So what is the difference between now and before? Were they allowed to smoke inside before? Most smokers tend to congregate together in particular outside spots anyway … not exactly sure what this has achieved (or why?). Have they just moved smokers away from doorways? Is their smoking being monitored/rationed? Please explain.

They are being herded into certain areas before the Final Solution is enacted.

So what is the difference between now and before? Were they allowed to smoke inside before? Most smokers tend to congregate together in particular outside spots anyway … not exactly sure what this has achieved (or why?). Have they just moved smokers away from doorways? Is their smoking being monitored/rationed? Please explain.

I’m not a smoker, but I believe in the rights of every person, and so for anyone (especially the elderly who were mislead about any dangers) who are smokers, I think it’s wrong to be put into a small “containment zone” like they’re some kind of leper.
I don’t think smoking indoors should be allowed, but surely out in the open (away from non-smokers as they tend to avoid anywhere smokers congregate anyway) should be sufficient for the legally addicted populous.

You’d think the easiest thing to do would just be to make smoking illegal,

If they make smoking illegal I start smoking again just to piss them off.

You sound like my dad: he happily wore seat belts until they passed a law making it compulsory, then he refused (until one day (a good decade later), he had a little prang and bit his tongue when his chin hit the steering wheel; needless to say we all laughed at him and offered no sympathy).

peterh said :

I pity the poor security guard who has to enforce the no smoking rules. some of the smokers at TCH are very angry little units at the best of times…

I think these people get so many scowls and insults from people walking into the hospital, as well as having to wait for their nicotine hit, that they get very very angry sometimes.

G-Fresh said :

Ah, more smoke and mirrors from Katy Gallagher.

different portfolio, different set of ways to annoy the punters. how long till barr gets health, too?

Ah, more smoke and mirrors from Katy Gallagher.

I pity the poor security guard who has to enforce the no smoking rules. some of the smokers at TCH are very angry little units at the best of times…

It will only take one or two more generations for smoking to become a negligible problem anyway… don’t encourage them to pass more laws!

You’d think the easiest thing to do would just be to make smoking illegal, considering they are fazing out smoking basically everywhere. Soon enough I won’t even be able to have a cigarette in my own home. But then they would be losing out on millions and millions of dollars on tax a month – no way the government would pass that up!!

…except in the “designated outdoor smoking area for staff”, I guess you mean?

So theyre trying to encourage more people to work in the field, but at the same time theyre reducing options for workers? I dunno about the people theyre looking for, but I know personally I prefer jobs where the employer gives me more flexibility than less, especially if theyre trying to attract me to a job.

Poor pay, poor conditions, and now the staff cant even go for a smoko break to get away from it all.

I noticed a few weeks ago at a hospital in a country town that this already appears to be in place in NSW.