Smokers entering Cork hospital urged to ask for 'quitting medications' 

Mercy University Hospital is looking to reinforce its tobacco-free campus status

'Smoking and the use of electronic cigarettes is not permitted anywhere in and around MUH and anywhere that can be considered its campus.' File picture: iStock

A Cork inner-city hospital has encouraged smokers to ask for free ‘quitting medications’ as it reinforces its tobacco-free campus status on the streets on Wednesday to mark world no-tobacco day.

Mercy University Hospital (MUH) will use part of a €7,000 tobacco-free campus bursary from the HSE to refresh signage, to provide literature for patients and the public, and on local advertising, to improve public compliance of its smoke-free status in the areas around its various city centre locations.

“MUH went tobacco-free on national no-smoking day on February 17, 2021,” said HSE tobacco lead for Cork and Kerry Anna Burns.

"Smoking and the use of electronic cigarettes is not permitted anywhere in and around MUH and anywhere that can be considered its campus.” 

She said she and her team are there to help people who want to quit smoking, with supports available to people attending at the hospital's emergency department, as out-patients, and as in-patients.

And she encouraged people who have decided to quit to ask for the "free stop-smoking medications" as soon as they arrive at the hospital, and when they feel they might need them.

Dr David Curran, a consultant respiratory physician at MUH and chair of its tobacco-free campus working group, said they hope their focused day of action on Wednesday will highlight not just the harms caused by tobacco — it can cause a range of cancers, and chronic pulmonary obstructive disease — but also the range of supports available to those who want to quit.

Mercy University Hospital is a tobacco-free campus. Picture: Larry Cummins

“One in every two long-term smokers will die from a tobacco-related disease. They will have 10 years less life expectancy and their last few years will generally be spent in ill health,” he said.

“But help is available to those who want to stop smoking, and the smoking cessation supports are free.” 

He said since the introduction of the indoor smoking ban in March 2004, the number of smokers in the population has decreased, but he said he still sees daily the harm tobacco causes.

Warning on vapes

He also warned about the increasing use of vapes — poorly regulated products which contain toxins which can be harmful to the lungs.

“It is an increasing problem and I would be concerned that young people are starting to use vapes. Data has shown that these people are more likely to become tobacco smokers, and all that that entails, so I welcomed the Government’s move to ban the sale of them to under 18s,” he said.

Of the 7,000 chemicals in a cigarette, over 60 of them are known carcinogens.

Apart from the ill-health and chronic disease smoking can cause, it is also costly, with a person on 20-cigarettes a day likely to fork out over €5,000 a year on the habit.

Seven out of 10 smokers, on average, do want to quit and those who ask for help quitting will be referred to the nearest stop smoking service, which offers a combination of behavioural support and free nicotine replacement therapy.

“We will support you to be free of nicotine over a few short weeks. You might continue to take the free stop-smoking medications for up to 12 weeks to ensure you are free of your dependency and on the path to better health,” Ms Burns said.

You can find your nearest clinic at quit.ie.