£1,000 f ine if you smoke within 50ft of a hospital

PATIENTS who smoke outside hospitals face fines of up to £1,000 under plans to extend the crackdown on tobacco.

The Scottish Government also intends to hit health boards and managers with penalties of up to £2,500 if they fail to act on it.

Smoking is already banned in hospital grounds.

But that will be backed up with fines from next year and anyone smoking within 50ft (15m) of a hospital building could face a penalty.

Ministers hope to make Scotland tobacco-free by 2034, and regulations will be laid before parliament next year, paving the way for the hospital crackdown.

Smoking and permitting others to smoke will be dealt with by £50 onbeen the-spot fines, but that could rise if offenders are taken to court.

The plans were revealed in a parliamentary question last week. Clare Haughey, Nationalist MSP for Rutherglen, asked the Government: ‘What progress it has made prohibiting smoking on NHS property?’

In response, Public Health Minister Aileen Campbell admitted ‘smoking still persists around many hospitals’. She said: ‘To address this, penalties will be introduced for smoking around hospital buildings in 2018.’

The move is the latest attack on smokers by the Scottish Government. Tobacco advertising was banned in 2002, and three years later Scotland became the first part of the UK to outlaw smoking in enclosed public places.

Since then tobacco displays have banned in shops, plain packaging introduced and it is illegal to smoke in a car with children present.

Despite this, tobacco is still linked to 10,000 Scottish deaths every year and 128,000 hospital admissions.

But campaigners insist those statistics do not justify an assault on smokers’ civil liberties.

Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said: ‘The Scottish Government is behaving like Big Brother.

‘Smoking outside doesn’t put anyone else’s health at risk. As long as people are considerate and don’t smoke directly outside the hospital entrance, what’s the problem?’

Councils warned they lack the resources to enforce the ban.

But a Scottish Government spokesman said that tough action was needed to protect patients.

He added: ‘Smoking is already prohibited within enclosed public spaces across hospital grounds to protect staff, patients and visitors from the harmful effects of second hand smoke.

‘We plan to extend this ban to include areas within 45ft of NHS hospital buildings, highlighting the importance of keeping tobacco smoke away from windows and doorways in areas where people may be particularly vulnerable.

‘In 2018, we will enforce this ban through introducing £50 on-thespot penalties to those caught ignoring the ban and to those permitting others to smoke outside a hospital building.

‘If a case is taken to court, the offender could be fined up to £1,000 and those found to have permitted others to smoke outside a hospital could be fined up to £2,500.’

‘Government behaving like Big Brother’