The Big Questions

Should there be a smoking ban on all premises where care staff work, including service users’ own homes?

Karen Shook – Disability equality adviser
There has to be a balance between encouraging people to give up and respecting their choices. It can be a problem for home care workers when they visit a smoker’s home, particularly if they have asthma. Ideally the service user should only smoke in one room. But the care provider should never refuse to send someone.

Len Smith – Gypsy activist
Some cared for people have so few pleasures that a cigarette can be almost an essential. It seems right to allow refusals, but I would think that most who “care” would not take up the option in private homes.  However, other than that, I would support the right to refuse work in a smoky atmosphere. I speak as an emphysema sufferer!

Angie Lawrence – Single mother
I do not think it is too much to ask for someone not to smoke shortly before and during a care worker’s visit. The difficulty comes when this is not agreed to by the person whose home is being visited. There needs to be a balance between not infringing a person’s human rights and protecting the health of visiting care workers.

Kerry Evans – Parent of two severely autistic sons
While I agree on a total smoking ban in public, smoking was more acceptable for the older generation so I feel it is an infringement of their human rights to dictate to senior citizens whether they can smoke in their own home. Care workers’ health and safety protection acts to the detriment of people they care for.