Louis Appleby welcomes smoking ban in mental health units

By Mithran Samuel on July 1, 2008 in Mental Health

Mental health tsar Louis Appleby has claimed that the “smoking den culture on in-patient wards is over” with the extension of the smoking ban to mental health units in England today.

The ban on smoking in public places came into force a year ago today but mental health units were given a 12-month exemption, given evidence that up to 80% of patients on wards smoked.

However, mental health trusts and other providers were free to impose a ban themselves, which a number reportedly did.

Appleby said the full ban was a “positive step towards ending an unacceptable health inequality – the high rate of smoking-related disease in people with mental illness”.

The national director for mental health services added that it would be accompanied by support for mental health patients to quit smoking.