Smokers discharge themselves early from treatment

Reports of smokers discharging themselves early from Morriston hospital in Swansea, where smoking bans prevail also in the grounds, have prompted members of a health watchdog to call for provision for smokers.

Their solution of providing a shelter close to the entrance of the hospital is the only one permissible under the law, which bans smokers in public from getting adequate shelter. A Councillor points out that smokers in the doorway have led to 'incidents' resulting from non-smokers being compelled to walk through the smoke and smokers in order to get inside the building.

The problem appears to be without resolution so far – unsurprisingly, since the only sensible solution is to accommodate smokers indoors, in comfortable areas that will attract them away from the main access points. And this solution isn't available to the authorities, because legislators are content with smokers being blamed for the social order issues that are a direct result of smoking bans.