Smoking ban: how has it affected you?

The smoking ban came into effect on 1 July in England making it illegal to smoke in any public place with exemptions for certain residences including prisons, care homes and psychiatric units. We want to know how it has affected you.

As the ban was coming into effect, it emerged that:

• Domiciliary care workers can when visiting the home of a smoker ask to use a room that has been kept smoke free for two-three hours.

• Liverpool Council said that residents should not smoke for half an hour prior to pre-arranged visits to their homes by council employees.

• The Fostering Network has recommended that social workers never smoke around or even in view of children. It also says that councils should factor whether a foster carer smokes when placing a child.

At the same time there were exemptions.

• Mental health units will be exempt from the ban until July 2008.

• Residents in care homes can smoke in designated areas

• Inmates can smoke in prisons as they are regarded as their “private homes”

Nick Johnson, chief executive of the Social Care Association, said last month: “When the smoking ban was being thought up, nobody thought of us. People were thinking of pubs, hotels, railway stations. Social care was not even in the minds of ministers and [the potential problems] are the collateral effect of that.”

Have your say

How have you found the ban? Join the debate and tell us your experiences.