Should Smoking Be Banned In Mental Health Hospitals?

All hospitals in Scotland and some in England and Wales want to ban smoking outside mental hospital buildings.

18:05 02 August 2015

Based on one report, 42per cent of all cigarettes smoked in England are done by people with mental health disorder. One patient, Kate, who checked herself into a mental unit because of a major depressive episode, said “smoking is all we did in our free time.”

 

However, all hospitals in Scotland and some in England and Wales are now planning to ban smoking both inside and outside mental hospital buildings starting next year. The plan, others say, will make mental health patients feel like they’re a prisoner. There is also a concern that the ban may cause patients to leave prematurely or even fail to seek help in the first place.

 

Twenty years ago, smoking was allowed inside mental health hospitals, in all rooms except a single non-smoking room in many facilities. However, things have changed as more is known about the harmful effects of smoking not just on patient’s mental health but also physical health.

 

Patients with schizophrenia for example who are treated with the drugs Clozapine and Olanzapine and smoke, have an increased metabolism so they fail to process the drug as well as those who do not smoke.