CALLS are being made for smoking to be outlawed outside Worcestershire Royal Hospital with one councillor saying she is fed up of battling through a bevy of addicts just to get inside.

Smoke-free campaigners are piling the pressure on the Worcestershire Acute NHS Hospitals Trust to make all of its sites totally smoke-free.

At present, smoking is restricted to designated outdoor smoking areas. But members of the Smoke Free Worcestershire Alliance say the acute trust should follow the example of others and ban smoking completely.

The group is in talks with acute trust chief executive Penny Venables who says the trust supports the principle of smoke-free, but has severe doubts whether it can be successfully implemented.

However, alliance member and Worcester City councillor David Tibbutt is not convinced there is any will to stop people smoking in the hospital grounds.

“Bearing in mind that smoking is one of, if not the most damaging thing for health, it seems ridiculous that a place which is treating huge numbers of people is making no efforts to stop them doing it,” he said.

Coun Tibbutt raised his concerns at a meeting of the county’s health overview and scrutiny committee and fellow members were quick to echo his concerns.

Coun Fran Oborski said: “I am sick and tired of going into Worcestershire Acute sites and having to walk through a bevy of addicts indulging their particular vice.

“If other places can ban smoking then so can Worcestershire Acute. Yes, it is challenging, but it should be done.”

Coun Pattie Hill said: “I am absolutely astounded by the amount of smoking, particularly people who come out from the wards in their gowns to do it.”

Mrs Venables said: “We absolutely support the principle of smoke-free, but the logistics for implementing it are very difficult. We cannot simply not let patients who smoke off the wards as that would be infringing their rights.

“If people are going to smoke they are going to smoke. We have to make sure that we have a policy that does not encourage them to do it surreptitiously.

“At a previous trust I made the decision to go smoke-free and we simply could not police it. We encouraged staff to challenge people who were smoking on the grounds and the levels of abuse were the worst I have experienced.”

However, she will continue to engage with the Smoke Free Alliance and believes that improvements can be made without a blanket ban.

“We will be looking at where our smoking shelters are placed because at the moment they are probably still too visible,” she said.

Should smoking be banned outside hospitals? Have your say online at worcesternews.co.uk.