A CLAMPDOWN on smoking in public areas and workplaces could be extended into the living room, under new measures being considered by health chiefs.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is preparing new guidance to protect nurses, midwives and health visitors from passive smoking when visiting "their workplace" in other people's homes.

Under the proposals, smokers will be told no one should light up in the room where the patient will be seen for at least an hour before health workers are due.

Those who do not comply could be asked to travel to a clinic for treatment.

An RCN spokesman stressed the guidelines were still in draft form, and each individual health trust would have to decide whether to impose them.

"The RCN supports a complete ban on smoking," he said.

"We are concerned about the health of people who work in pubs and clubs. That then transmits to the health of other workers."

Rachel Johns, pictured, director of public health for Selby and York Primary Care Trust, said she would be interested in seeing the RCN guidelines to see if they supported the PCT's own approach.

She said: "We support members of staff where it is clinically appropriate to make a polite request for smoking to cease during their visit.

"We recognise there might be situations where that is difficult, or where a patient doesn't adhere to that request. In that situation, we recommend staff discuss that with their line manager."

She said patients had been co-operative.

The Evening Press reported yesterday leaders of The Club and Institute Union have called on members of working men's clubs to demand the right to choose whether smoking should be outlawed.

Members of local clubs in York have said they would "fight for the right to smoke".

A ban is in prospect due to an amendment to the Health Bill, which proposes a total ban on smoking in licensed premises, and which has won the support of Selby MP John Grogan and York MP Hugh Bayley.

The Evening Press and the Selby and York Primary Care Trust's Yes To Clean Air Campaign aims to ensure all workplaces are smoke-free.

According to the RCN, 114,000 people are killed by smoking in the UK every year, with 11,000 people dying from second-hand smoke exposure annually in the UK.

There are also 617 deaths a year likely to be caused by breathing in second-hand smoke at work, with at least one death a week from the hospitality industry.

RCN general secretary Beverly Malone said: "People are dying right now from the effects of passive smoking.

"This is a life or death issue for those people who have no choice about breathing in the smoke of others."