NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Director of Public Health, Dr Emilia Crighton announced that e-cigarettes can from now on be used on NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHSGGC) grounds by patients, visitors and staff.
“We’re now allowing e-cigarettes on our grounds to give our patients, staff and visitors more choice in how they quit smoking.” -E. Crighton.
The announce was made on April 21 and fits into an overall effort to cut smoking rates especially for smokers that still smoke at hospital entrances. It is hoped that by allowing vaping, those persons will change their habits. The e-cigarettes can only be used on Hospital grounds though, they are still banned in the hospital buildings. Tobacco smoking has been banned in all health grounds across Scotland since April 2015.
“Our Smokefree services are designed to help people identify an approach that works for them. Over the last five years, more than 150,000 people have used our Smokefree Services and this method can be used to manage nicotine withdrawal while smokers work towards quitting altogether.” -E. Crighton.
Dr Crighton said, “Tobacco is still the most common preventable cause of death in Scotland with smoking to blame for around a quarter of all deaths.” and added “We have seen the percentage of people who smoke fall from 37.5 per cent to 25 per cent over the last 10 years. I believe allowing e-cigarette use is the next tool in that fight and it will play a role in reducing that figure even more.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is the largest health board in the United Kingdom, serving 1.2 million people and employing 38,000 staff. The board is responsible for 35 hospital 300 GP practices and the same amount of community pharmacies, 270 Dental practices and over 180 ophthalmic ones.
Thanks for sharing this. We will win!
Simon, that’s good news, but be careful: Vapers are simply seen as “an ally of convenience” for a good segment of the hard core of Antismokers, and once “The Smoker Problem” has been fully dealt with the Vapers will be next on the chopping block. There are some powerful subsets of the antismoking movement that will NEVER accept vaping, purely because (1) it LOOKS like smoking, and (2) it often involves the sinful ingestion of nicotine. See the breakdown of antismoking “types” outlined at: http://www.sott.net/article/128768-Recognising+Anti-Smoking+Types and think about how many of them will react toward Vapers after the smokers are eliminated.
– MJM
We need to stand as a united front Smokers/Vapers and Vaping Smokers or Smokers who occassionally Vape! Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.