NEWS
Vape-friendly hospitals
on the rise, but others
playing catch up
By Phoebe Fuller
Public hospitals in England are
gradually becoming more tolerant
of e-cigarette use, though a majority
continue to treat vapers as smokers,
according to a new report.
Pro-smoking group The Freedom Organisation for the Right
to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest) have released a report
detailing current smoking and vaping policies at several
NHS trusts. It found that, out of 170 trusts in England, 45
percent allow vaping on site.
The report, titled ‘Prejudice and Prohibition,’ sheds light
on this increasing acceptance of e-cigarette use within
the healthcare sector, but it also shows that attitudes to
e-cigarettes and vaping remain largely sceptical, with many
e-cigarette users being ‘punished’ as smokers.
Of the trusts that prohibit vaping on site (55 percent), their
policies include banning the use of e-cigarettes in car parks
and private vehicles – the same rules that apply to people
lighting up conventional cigarettes.
The report is based on the results of Freedom of Information
requests sent to 200 hospital trusts in England last year;
151 of those were acute trusts – organisations that manage
hospitals within a geographical area – and 49 were
specialist mental health trusts.
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