HOSPITAL chiefs are to clamp down on patients who stand smoking at entrances.
Visitors are likely to be effected by the ban, which is being proposed by Scarborough, Ryedale and Whitby NHS Trust at its hospitals at Whitby, Malton and Scarborough General.
A spokesman said that a decision was expected to be made on the issue in about two weeks. The action follows numerous complaints from people entering and leaving the hospitals because of the smell and the litter of stubbed cigarettes.
Patients in pyjamas and dressing gowns, some in wheelchairs, and visitors, are being urged to curb the habit or face a complete ban on smoking at hospital premises.
"We want people to smoke away from the main entrances," said the spokesman
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