Scotland opens further to vaping

National Health Service Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC), the largest health board in Scotland, has lifted its ban on vaping electronic cigarettes within hospital grounds, according to a BBC Online story relayed by the TMA.

The change in policy is said to have been made to help provide patients, staff and visitors with more choice in how they quit smoking.

Smoking was banned in all health grounds in Scotland in April 2015, but each of the 13 health boards was allowed to decide whether to allow vaping.

At the time, NHS Lothian was the only health board that decided to allow electronic cigarette use.

NHS GGC’s director of public health Dr. Emilia Crighton said tobacco product use was the “most common preventable cause of death in Scotland with smoking to blame for around a quarter of all deaths”.

Crighton said that the incidence of smokers had fallen from 37.5 percent to 25.0 percent during the past 10 years.

Allowing electronic cigarette use was the next tool in the fight against smoking, and it would play a role in reducing the smoking prevalence even more.