Policy

............in name only. And utterly ineffective.

I understand the no-smoking policy applies to the hospital premises right out to the perimeter entrances. This photo was taken immediately outside the main entrance to the outpatients department. I could have filmed 2 other bins stacked with cigarette ends and with a 'no smoking' policy sign right beside them. Its not the first time I've noticed this and it is clear from speaking to others that the policy is quite simply ignored and no-one seems to be aware of any attempts to enforce it.

All the more astonishing that this policy does not seem to be effective in a NHS hospital of all places where the NHS spends huge sums of money treating people with smoking-related illnesses. Wonder which senior manager has specific responsibility for implementing the policy and how often he/she checks on policy implementation and how they measure success. Or is it all just too difficult and the Chief Exec and the senior managers are happy to take the pay but quietly forget these type of public health policy matters?

It's a blip I'd rather have passed over on but having waited outside the so-called no smoking area for a while until the person I was waiting for appeared, the absurdity of the practical effect of the policy prodded me into blipping with this today.