HSE rejects call for smoking ban in psychiatric units

SIPTU yesterday called for a total ban on smoking in two psychiatric units attached to general hospitals in Cork city.

However, the Health Services Executive (HSE) Southern Area claimed the smoking ban does not apply to units at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) and Cork University Hospital (CUH) under an older law.

The HSE has rejected a SIPTU call for a smoking ban in a psychiatric unit at Kerry General Hospital, Tralee, citing a law from 2002 which designated the unit as a district mental hospital and makes it exempt from the ban.