Move to stub out hospital smoking

Patrols aim to stop staff and patients flouting the no-smoking rule in the grounds of two hospitals in Cumbria.

From Monday, all entrances and car parks at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven, will be regularly checked.

A ban on smoking anywhere in the hospital or its grounds, was put in place in July 2007, but there have many reported incidents of it being ignored.

The health trust said this had been causing distress to non-smokers.