Majority oppose ban on smoking in hospital grounds

Almost two-thirds of Scots oppose plans to impose a smoking ban in hospital grounds, according to a story by Scott MacNab for The Scotsman citing a Scottish Parliament survey.

And a greater proportion of people are against plans for a £1,000 fine for anyone caught breaching the ban.

The survey results come days after MSPs on Holyrood’s health committee voiced concerns about the proposal.

Forty six percent of those who took part in the survey strongly disagreed with the proposal to ban smoking across all hospital grounds in Scotland and 16 percent disagreed.

Fifty four percent strongly disagreed with imposing a fine of up to £1,000 on any person convicted of smoking in a no-smoking area in hospital grounds. Sixty eight percent either disagreed or strongly disagreed.

The objections were either due to suspicions that such a ban might include e-cigarettes; or because of a more general objection to government measures that influence an individual’s behaviour.

Eight hundred and forty five Scots participated in the survey, but the researchers pointed out that this group might not have been representative of the Scottish population as a whole.

An Ash Scotland and YouGov survey in March 2014 indicated that 73 percent of a representative sample of the Scottish population was in favour of a ban on smoking in hospital grounds.

Pro-smoking campaign group Forest branded the hospital smoking ban ‘vindictive and inhumane’.