A BLANKET ban on smoking has come into force at Lynfield Mount psychiatric hospital in Bradford.

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust said the ban also affected all its buildings, grounds and vehicles, including the Airedale Centre for Mental Health at Airedale Hospital at Steeton, Keighley.

Nicola Lees, deputy chief executive and director of nursing at the Trust, said the decision had been taken to help patients' mental health as well as theirs and staff's physical health.

"Smoking can have a negative impact on the medication people are prescribed to help them manage their mental illness," she said.

"The Trust aims to provide a healthy environment to receive care and work in, and create outside spaces that promote well-being.

"We recognise that this is about long-term behavioural change, but we are committed to our plans.

"Staff and service users were consulted, and the overall opinion was that a smoke-free Trust would result in much more positive physical health outcomes for all our clients."

The Trust said a range of initiatives had been put in place to support staff and patients, including the training of staff to act as smoking cessation advisors, and the offer of nicotine replacement therapy for all service users who smoked.

A survey released last month by Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England found that smoking rates among service users in mental health units stood at 64 per cent, way above the national average of about 19 per cent.

The report contained guidelines to help mental health units implement smoke-free environments, amid growing research suggesting that alongside improvements to physical health, stopping smoking could also improve mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.

Evidence was also said to show that people who smoked often required higher doses of psychotropic medication as smoking increased the metabolism of the drugs.

Matthew Day, a consultant at PHE, said: "We are learning from existing units that service users are just as likely to want to stop smoking as the general population, and can do so when offered support.

"Existing smoke-free mental health units have made a real impact by providing a supportive environment to help users quit tobacco and experience the physical, mental, social, and financial benefits of a smokefree life."

Glenn Turp, regional director for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in the Yorkshire and the Humber region said it supported the Trust's decision to impose the ban but he warned that it was not the role of nurses to enforce it.

"The RCN backs efforts to reduce smoking, including helping nurses themselves to stop smoking," he said.

"Staff health and wellbeing has a significant impact on care, so we know that both patients as well as nurses need access to the right support.

“Nurses would be expected to give advice where appropriate and to abide by policies, particularly where it benefits patients. However, enforcing the policy should not be the role of the nurse.”

Mrs Lees assured staff would only be expected to report breaches of the ban rather than try to stop them.

"Staff will not be expected to challenge any person not following the policy if they do not feel comfortable to do so," she said.

"They do have a responsibility to report any breaches of Health and Safety to their line managers and this would include our Smoke Free policy.”

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust introduced a no-smoking policy at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital in 2006, but smoking shelters were re-introduced in 2012 after the ban proved nigh-on impossible to enforce.

A Trust confirmed two smoking shelters remained on site at BRI for use by visitors and patients, adding that the site remained smoke-free for all members of staff.

Smoking shelters were re-introduced at Airedale Hospital in 2010, and Stacey Hunter, director of operations at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Despite our best efforts to keep all areas of the hospital smoke-free, some smoking continues.

"We therefore operate a designated areas only approach and smoking is banned in all areas of the hospital grounds, except in designated smoking shelters, to prevent people smoking in places where they could put themselves and others at greater risk."