UHG staff verbally abused for enforcing smoking ban

Dozens of cigarette butts outside an entrance to the maternity unit this week.

placeholder image — Dozens of cigarette butts outside an entrance to the maternity unit this week.

Galway City Tribune - Smoking cessation officers at University Hospital Galway have reported being verbally abused when they ask patients and visitors to stop smoking on campus.

A handful of incidents of verbal abuse are logged in UHG’s Tobacco Free Campus Steering Group’s compliance monitoring reports, released to this newspaper under Freedom of Information.

In other incidents, patients and visitors in breach of the hospital’s smoke-free policy were polite and agreeable.

According to the reports, relating to 2017 and 2018, an inpatient who was told to stop smoking outside St Finbar’s Ward was “very aggressive and dismissive” of the smoking cessation officer.

Hospital security were made aware of the situation after a patient “continued smoking and refused further conversation”. The patient’s reaction was one of “aggression and refusal to adhere to policy”.

In January of 2018, there were “large numbers of people seen smoking at front door” of UHG. This is a preview only. To read the rest of the coverage, see this week's Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week's paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.