The smoke-free policies of Lanarkshire general practices

A telephone survey was performed to examine the smoke-free policies at Lanarkshire general practices sited outwith health centres. Forty-nine practices were contacted and all agreed to take part. Thirty-three practices (67%) reported that there was a complete ban on smoking within the building. The remaining 16 practices (33%) reported that the building was largely no-smoking with smoking by staff restricted to designated smoking areas. No practices permitted patients to smoke within the main practice premises. Few practices reported experiencing any difficulties with either the implementation or operation of the smoke-free policies. Although it is possible that problems may not have been recognised or not reported, these results are encouraging. They suggest that smoking in surgeries is the exception rather than the rule. The finding that patients largely respect the smoking ban in practice premises also suggests that the health service exemplar role is being recognised by the public. Practices that currently have no smoking restrictions should review their policy. Practices that do impose restrictions must recognise the needs of staff who smoke and offer appropriate support to help them to stop.