Hospital smoking shelters U-turn

The shelters will provide a place for people to smoke outside the hospital

Sunderland Royal Hospital is "reluctantly" reinstating shelters for smokers in its grounds.

Health bosses admit they are unable to stop people disobeying the no-smoking rule and lighting up just outside the hospital's main doors.

This had led to complaints by patients and staff about second-hand smoke drifting into the building.

Purpose-built shelters, which were dismantled two years ago, are to be set up again.

Very challenging

Les Boobis, a medical director at City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, said the problem with smokers had become increasingly difficult to manage.

"In an ideal world there would be no smoking at all within the vicinity of any health organisation, but trying to implement that ideal is proving to be very, very challenging," he said.

"The best way we can protect staff and patients is to give them no excuse to smoke in a way that allows smoke to drift into hospital.

"So we are reluctantly providing them with an environment in which they are obliged to smoke if they wish to do so."