Greenock Telegraph's sketchy reporting of smoking ban problem

On learning from an outraged employee that Inverclyde Royal Hospital regularly sees smokers in its grounds, Greenock Telegraph reporters went 'straight to the health board chiefs'. There they learned more of what hospital trusts have been discovering up and down the country – that bans are not enforceable. Staff can be forced by contractual obligations to comply with rules (although how many of them will have been issued with new contracts outlining a complete ban on smoking on the premises – perhaps the threat of disciplinary action has been enough). But visitors and patients cannot be policed in the same way.

End of investigation. The story is that people are breaking the rules, and this version doesn't so much as attempt to understand these people's point of view. It's an old story, and has been a running sore on hospital premises for years now.

The absurd situation of people hanging about smoking in hospital doorways, obstructing entrances and upsetting people who have been frightened by passive smoking myths, has persisted for too long. The public has demonstrated its contempt for outdoor bans in hospitals everywhere. Health boards should insist on allowing the creation of proper, weather-proof shelters for people who need to smoke during their visit to hospital, whether as patients or visitors.  They should complain for a change in the law. Staff should not be prevented from smoking in their break times either.

And the Greenock Telegraph should also get its act together. Since people have not stopped smoking in hospital grounds since the ruling came in, it shouldn't be difficult to find one offender who is prepared to give his or her view of the issue. No smokers were interviewed. No staff who have been successfully restricted from smoking were interviewed (have they been banned from speaking to the press?)

Nul points.