NHS gives out mixed messages

I know that smoking is becoming less and less popular. I have worked in many hospitals and over the years restrictions on smokers have gradually increased. At one stage the only people who could smoke in hospital were psychiatric patients and the terminally ill. How did they break the news that you could smoke and was it good or bad news?

I don't have a good word for smoking. I don't like the idea of putting smoke in my lungs. So many conditions are related to smoking and I think everyone knows this, hence the NHS restrictions along with warnings on the packets, TV adverts and many other methods to stop people smoking. However this must be something to say for it. I have heard that it helps people relax. Then find something else that helps you relax. If there is a good feeling to smoking then find something else that feels good.

For all the advertising there are still people who take up smoking. Well if you were a Martian and landed near a hospital you would see people in NHS uniforms smoking on the main road. It seems that someone has decided that you can't smoke in hospitals (that's OK) or hospital grounds (no secondary smoking possible so this is a strange decision). What it means is that hospitals now have the image that everyone smokes who works there. You don't have to be a Martian. If NHS workers are so visible when they smoke then you can't blame people for thinking that it can't be all bad!

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