With the smoking ban coming into play in Jan 2016, I just wondered what peoples thought's were on it..My daughter is a smoker and will be going into a long term unit next week, she is not happy about the ban and has no intention of giving up at this stage.
How do you feel about the smoking ban being implimented in Jan 16 in psychiatric hospitals?
Do you feel as though your right to smoke has been taken away from you, surely it is your own free choice to decide whether or not to smoke or to give up, not for it to be decided for you by the Government.
Do you feel this is benig imposed as a punishment for being ill and in a locked unit? Or, do you see it as a good thing, that with good support it will be helpful in the long run for your health, and your happy that it will give you an opportunity to quit.
Have you got any ways to try and get around the smoking ban? Do you think it may deter you from going into hospital and seeking a safe environment if you know you cannot smoke whilst there?
Not at all unfair. Seems fair given that smoking is banned in all other public buildings.
The way I see it is that it is also unfair to non smokers to allow smokers to smoke in buildings, why should a non-smoker have to deal with smoke inhalation when they have not chosen to smoke.
But I do accept that this is not a clean cut issue and can see the other side of the argument.
Last edited by Iamcatbug : 12-11-2015 at 08:43 PM.
Reason: expanding my point
It's stupid. There should be an outside space where people can smoke. Unless you want to, being on a psych ward is the worst possible time to quit.
There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: 'This glass is half full'. And then there are those who say: 'This glass is half empty'.
The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: 'What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!
It's stupid. There should be an outside space where people can smoke. Unless you want to, being on a psych ward is the worst possible time to quit.
This. It's true that smoking is banned in all sorts of public spaces and that's fair. But there should be a place designed specifically for smoking, especially in a psychiatric hospital where the last thing you need on top of your mental illness is nicotine withdrawal.
There was a time when I was severely depressed and I literally had no money so I couldn't smoke, which made everything worse. Smoking was a coping mechanism for me(I've quit since, and I'm no way condoning it), and without it I got even more triggered by things, and ended up self-harming more often.
I can see both sides. I agree that the ideal solution would be a secure outside space, but if allowing someone to use that secure outside space requires a staff member that could be otherwise engaged. With all the cuts going on maybe it just isn't feesable staffing wise?
Has a reason actually been given?
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"No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war." - Picasso
'I have scars becuase I have a past; but they, like my past, do not define my future'
I just think the added distress of not being able to smoke would take up more staff time than arranged 10min smoking slots. People don't like having so many of their civil rights taken away.
Well, they'll be using more PRN then. I don't smoke and I think its ****ing stupid. Designated places in the gardens or courtyards is perfectly reasonable, and I can be pretty sure it would save staff time to give people addicted to nicotine a smoke break every couple of hours than to not do so.
Also, personally, I kind of saw smoking as a ritual. I went to a smoking area, I lit my cigarette, then I smoked, which included repeating the same movement over and over*cigarette-to-mouth). I'm probably not making much sense but this ritualistic characteristic of smoking made it very hard to just use the patch/nicotine gum.
In the hospital I was in the female ward had a secure shelter attached to the ward. It looked a bit like a bus shelter and was outside but you couldn't get off the ward from it. I never saw anyone on 1-1 when I was in and it allowed us to smoke without disrupting the staff and non-smoking patients. I don't really agree with the ban because even when I was extremely unwell, I still smoked apparently. I have no real recollection of it but it was obviously a comfort to me and gave me something to ground myself with and reward myself with when I was struggling to get through the hours when I was a bit more with it.
I totally agree that smoking should never be allowed on/inside the ward, and as a society in general I think we have moved on from that now.
But, as most wards have a smoking shelter in an secure outside space, away from non-smokers, surely this is a persons choice whether or not they choose to use that area to continue to smoke. and away from non-smokers.
In tems of staffing levels, most people on the acute ward went down unsupervised and on an hourly rota, It didn't appear to take up that much of staff's time, when patients were going down in 3 or 4 at a time, if supervision was required.
The annoyance is the long term unit my daughter is going to, will allow smoking on site for the mens acute ward but not for the other 5 wards, what sort of message does that send out!
It's a shame. In my experience, though I never personally did this, people would light up and smoke in the dorms or the bathrooms if refused to be allowed to go out, and that's not okay. I was pretty scared one night to wake up to a dark shadow in my bedspace 'looking for a lighter'!
I understand that psych wards want to keep people healthy, but to unnecessarily make it quite so far removed from a home environment is deskilling at best.
The smoking ban comes into affect in my trust in April so at my local psych ward it'll be no smoking, in theory.
To be honest it's going to be absolute carnage. The amount of people that kick off already just because they've had to wait a couple of hours since their last cig and have to wait another 15 or so minutes, it's like, everyone. If you're on escorted leave going out for a cigarette is the only time you get off the ward. And staff are much more supportive of you going out for your addiction rather than just fresh air. It's part of the culture there that almost everyone smokes. I'm not usually a smoker but I smoke when I'm inpatient because of the stress, wanting to get outside and having nothing to do. I hope to god I never get admitted when this is in place because there will be fights breaking out more than there already is. People are already maxed out on their PRN. People won't be allowed to go off the grounds just so they can smoke, it's not secure enough. I mean can you image being locked on a ward for weeks and the only time you get the slightest break from the chaos is going downstairs for 10 minutes twice a day and having that taken away?
My trust got it put in place in 2014. It only led to people smoking on the ward (me included), which gave staff more issues to deal with. The older or more naive people who didn't have lighters on them or were too scared to get caught smoking would just end up kicking off that they weren't allowed to smoke. I think it is just ridiculous. It should be your right to choose when you stop smoking. And in times of crisis having a cig can help calm things down immensely.
I now have in my records that I am an unintentional risk of harm to others because I smoked in the bathrooms on the ward or in my bedroom.
'Cause I'll always remember you the same.
Oh eyes like wild flowers within demons of change ♥
I get the general feeling that most patients (who smoke) and nearly all the staff that I have spoken to over the last few month are so very against the ban.
Staff are concerned that things/situations will 'kick off' and I know comissioners have been into some hospitals for community meetings with patients to explain the situation. (which didn't go down well)
Can there be an eventual u-turn on the decision? (especially when they see they effect it will have on those smokers who still want to carry on and the nicotine withdrawal and those that are maxed out on PRN) In my opinion you tell someone they can't do something and they just want to do it more! I think it is going to be carnage to!
Like you said in your post Wonderwall, I guess patients will resort to smoking regardless in toilets/bedrooms, as they can't stop you from having cigarettes on your person, how oftern do did you get away with smoking in your bedroom, how did staff handle that?
I don't think they'll be u turn, from a legal perspective, but I wouldn't be surprised if staff find some way around it to that the wards aren't total chaos all the time. People would have to find a way to get hold of lighters if they were going to smoke in their rooms. Although some people on my ward started lighting their cigarettes off the toaster...
Like you said in your post Wonderwall, I guess patients will resort to smoking regardless in toilets/bedrooms, as they can't stop you from having cigarettes on your person, how oftern do did you get away with smoking in your bedroom, how did staff handle that?
Staff every now and then had to tell me off so they were seen to be doing it by management but they were the ones who gave me the initial idea of smoking in the bathrooms rather than my bedroom as they felt sorry for me and a lot of the staff were smokers and could see it from my point of view.
The others who didn't get it would charge in my room and ask me to hand over the lighter and I'd just say what lighter, why are you always accusing me. If they full on caught me smoking then I'd just tell them I'd used matches and I'd used the last in the pack and it'd gone down the drain. They would give me lectures on putting hundred of peoples lives at danger and tell me what I was doing was against the law so I'd get my phone out and say I guess I should report myself to the police then. And then they would get all panic because they thought I would do it and they'd get done for wasting police time like they have done before. But if you are going to say things like that to wind me up when I'm ill then my sarcastic ill self would just give them as much back.
'Cause I'll always remember you the same.
Oh eyes like wild flowers within demons of change ♥
Is it an England only thing? Because my local psych ward has a smoking area which is open and the only door leads from and to the ward. Shutting it off seems a little harsh.
I don't smoke but I think it's highly unfair on those that do. On our now closed psych unit they used to have a smoking room. Then the smoking ban came in and patients used to just smoke in the bathroom. It was awful each time you went in the loo because it stank. If it's UK wide then it's a case of criminals being treated better than the mentally ill as they can smoke in communal areas
.
Wannabe CPN : -)
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