Mental Nurse

As you are all very well aware, the whole of the United Kingdom now has a ban on Smoking in public places. (Finally, England caught up with the other countries)

This has caused endless discussion and debate about exceptions, if any, to the rules.

This post, however, is not about that. I am hoping this is not too much of a rant, but has a point to it.

Talking to an acquaintance, I was hearing about one hospital in Scotland (where the ban has been in place for about a year) which has both Medical wards and Mental Health wards in the same building. They are pushing for the outright ban of smoking in the grounds. This is probably true of lots of hospitals, but depends on the extent it is enforced.

The theory is that there is to be no smoking including the car parks (and in the cars). Patients and visitors may regularly flout this, standing at the front door. Staff, however, are another matter.

Since the ban was implemented, staff have been sitting in their cars hiding away, filling their ashtrays and smelling more like an ashtray than previously when smoking in the open air. Hospital management did not like this. They enforced the rule that staff must not smoke in their uniform at all.

Makes sense I hear you say. Yes, it does, for a few random arguments too boring to put down here, one major one being the ever important infection control.

The part that makes no sense and that I find rather infuriating, is that the same hospital do not enforce their staff to change in and out of their uniforms before starting and finishing a shift. Almost all staff come and go in their uniform. There is a huge amount of money spent on awareness, training and procedures in reducing Hospital Acquired Infections, just look at the website for hand washing from the Scottish Executive that reportedly cost silly money to produce.

Why have they decided to worry about the smoking nurses, yet leave all of them and the non-smoking nurses to wander in and out of work, in their cars, on buses, trains, shops, supermarkets, into their homes in their uniform? But if you are caught having a fly puff still in uniform you may face disciplinary action?

That question baffles and annoys me. As a Nursing Student, we were told that we had to change out of our uniforms, not be walking around in it after shift (as if, have you seen what we have to wear!?) but the qualified staff do as they please. In fact, many of the wards I have been in where I have had to wear a uniform, do not have proper changing facilities unless you want to go into the bowels of the hospital and squeeze in the tiny locker room. I have changed in several toilets, which is hardly gleaming with cleanliness.

Fortunately for us in Mental Health, this is less important, but it does not mean we should ignore it!