DEFIANT SMOKERS have colonised the “fresh air garden” at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, writes Marjory Inglis, health reporter.

Just days after the newly- landscaped area adjacent to the hospital’s main entrance was formally opened, smokers have moved in.

Lush plantings of lavendar and other aromatic plants in the attractive borders created can’t disguise the smell of cigarettes invading what is supposed to be a completely smoke-free site.

Smokers brazenly perch on the wooden benches in the area specially designed to be a relaxing retreat for everyone and puff on cigarettes, ignoring the polite announcements from a nearby tannoy, advising that the entire hospital site is a no-smoking area and requesting smokers to stub out their cigarettes.

Ninewells site manager Brian Main said, “We are trying to do some different signage to make the message very clear.

“We have our tannoy announcements to remind people this is a no-smoking site, and they are played regularly at the front entrance and garden area in particular.

“The garden area was provided at the request of patients and visitors who wanted an area where they could go without being covered in cigarette smoke.”

Non-smokers have long complained about the huddles of smokers congregating around the hospital’s main entrance, making getting into the building a struggle for those wishing to breathe clean air.

Shortly after the introduction of the national legislation in March 2006, which banned smoking in enclosed public places, NHS Tayside went further, extending the ban to cover the entire site.

Technically the ban even covers individuals smoking in private cars parked on the site.

However, policing the ban has been problematic as legally NHS Tayside’s smoking policy cannot be enforced in relation to patients and visitors.

The policy can only be enforced in relation to staff, and management have warned it intends to get tough with staff who have been offered help to quit smoking but continue to flout the ban.

From the outset senior health promotion staff accepted there would need to be policing by consent in terms of patients and visitors.

They had hoped everybody would co-operate and observe the request to refrain from smoking on site.