Patrols offer hospital smokers advice on quitting

Akin Afolabi and Mohammed Khan have been giving advice to smokers during the Stoptober campaign

People smoking outside Nottingham's hospitals have started receiving advice from dedicated officers.

Smokers continue to gather outside Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust sites despite the grounds being smoke-free since 2006.

Two smoke-free engagement officers are now on site to speak to smokers in a "non-judgemental" way about help and guidance on giving up.

The trust said the 12-month trial had received "positive feedback" since being launched in June.

The officers, Akin Afolabi and Mohammed Khan, have been patrolling the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) and City Hospital, making smokers aware of the support available to help them.

Zak Logalbo said he started vaping instead of smoking after receiving advice

Zak Logalbo says it was Mr Afolabi who encouraged him to quit after he had smoked about 25 cigarettes a day.

The builder, who was visiting the QMC, told the BBC he started smoking vapes instead after receiving support and advice.

According to the NHS website, nicotine vaping is "substantially less harmful" than smoking.

While not completely harmless, the health service says vaping is "one of the most effective tools" for quitting smoking.

Mr Logalbo, 38, said: "Eventually, I'd like to get off the vape, but it's a great stepping stone. Slow progress is better than no progress."

Meanwhile, Brian Dinnell, a warehouse operator from Sherwood, said he was not convinced by the initiative.

Brian Dinnell said smoking was "a serious addiction"

The 64-year-old, who said he had been smoking since the age of 11, had been staying at the QMC for two and a half weeks after being admitted with a bleeding ulcer.

He said he had previously tried to stop smoking.

"It's a serious addiction," he added.

"If you're an alcoholic or drug addict – you can go to your doctor and get help, but if you're a smoker, they just want to chuck a few patches at you.

"They don't work for everybody – it's like any illness. It needs to be tailored to the individual," Mr Dinnell said.

The first patrols of the smoke-free engagement workers coincide with the Department of Health and Social Care's Stoptober campaign, which encourages people to quit cigarettes during October.

Zahida Niazi, smoke-free lead at NUH, said of the new officers: "We want them to be able to engage in a positive way with smokers and give them evidence-based information to support them to quit smoking.

"We don't want them to be judgemental towards people or be villainising to them.

"A lot of the time they are addicted to smoking, so we want to raise awareness that they can get support to quit."