Congratulations to Whitby and Ryedale NHS Trust for its introduction of a complete and total ban on smoking on No Smoking Day (March 9).
The trust knows, as we all do, that smoking is a weapon of mass destruction.
Cigarettes kill people and it's not just smokers who die.
A British Medical Journal study showed passive smoking kills more than 11,000 people a year in the Britain.
It also showed a figure for people dying from second-hand smoke in the workplace to be 600 a year.
Leading doctors said the findings proved a complete ban on smoking in public places is urgently needed.
What a disappointment when I read the Selby and York Primary Care Trust policy. It states its aim is only to "reduce smoking as far as is reasonably practicable". Visitors are only "encouraged not to smoke" and there continues to be designated smoking areas available in the trust for staff and patients.
This year Selby and York PCT was planning a state-of-the-art office block for managers and the army of administration and clerical staff and no doubt much time money and effort will have been devoted to this.
Many who work in the National Health Service in York feel some of that time and effort would have been far better spent planning and implementing a comprehensive smoke-free environment for all who work in and use their premises. Passive smoking kills.
It is time all NHS trusts introduced a complete ban on smoking and this time it should be "no ifs, no butts".
Eric Wood,
Oakdale Road,
Clifton Moor, York.
Updated: 11:34 Saturday, March 12, 2005
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