SMOKERS will not be banned from lighting up at one Dorset hospital because it will ‘compromise their safety’.

Despite calls from Public Health England to make hospitals across the country totally smoke-free, both Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals and Poole Hospital still allow smoking on site in designated shelters.

And bosses at Royal Bournemouth Hospital said if they did enforce a ban, smokers may be at risk of being run over, particularly at night.

Anti-smoking campaigners were outraged by the hospital’s reasoning adding that tobacco use is the single largest cause of premature death with 100,000 people dying every year from smoking, compared to less than 2,000 dying from traffic accidents.

Richard Renaut, RBH chief operating officer, said: “We currently have a number of designated smoking areas across the Trust – if we ban smoking on our grounds all-together, as we have previously tried, it pushes staff, patients and visitors to smoke close to the main roads around the hospital which compromises their personal safety, especially at night. With feedback from the public, staff and the fire service, designated smoking shelters were located around both hospital sites. The Trust remains smoke free and smoking is only permitted within these shelters.”

He added the trust encourages and supports staff and patients to stop smoking with a specialist programme and regularly hosts pop-up events urging smokers to give up.

A spokesman added the “compromise” to personal safety was mainly traffic “especially as the speed limit on Castle Lane is 40mph, and the Wessex Way is 50mph”.

PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie wrote to every NHS Trust boss asking them to implement a ban on smoking across all hospital grounds. Dorset County Hospital became smoke-free site 10 years ago, with a complete ban throughout the grounds and car parks.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, said: “Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable premature death in Britain killing nearly 100,000 people a year compared to less than 2,000 who die from road traffic accidents. The single most important change that smokers can make to improve their health is quit – Bournemouth should be doing more to support quitting not facilitating smoking.”

She added NICE guidance clearly stated that all hospital premises including the grounds should be smokefree as part of a comprehensive approach to helping smokers quit.

A spokesman from Poole Hospital added: “The hospital does not allow smoking within its buildings or grounds, except in designated smoking shelters located away from the main hospital buildings. In light of Public Health England’s recent guidance we are considering how we can further develop our policy in the future.”

Despite declines in smoking prevalence over recent decades, around 15.5 per cent of adults in the South West still smoke. For every death caused by smoking, approximately 20 smokers are suffering from smoking related disease. While smoking during pregnancy is associate with a range of negative outcomes including miscarriage and premature birth, stillbirth and neonatal complications.