This latest movement was in response to the growing concerns for the health of the community and for the comfort of non smoking inpatients.

As of Tuesday all the ashtrays at Peel Health Campus were removed and the signs that are placed around the hospital warning visitors of the non-smoking policy went into effect.

Exective Manager Steve Wisnewski-Smith believes this is a step in the right direction for both staff members and inpatients.

“For some it will be a challenge, like it is with any smokers, but the staff members were being quite jovial,” He said.

Staff members now have the encouragement to quit the habit with support and Nicotine Replacement Therapy being offered at no cost.

The Peel Health Campus has about 17 percent of their staff who smoke and all appear to have responded to the smoking ban with enthusiasm.

“Some of the staff said they had tried (to quit smoking) before but really had no drive to stop smoking.” Wisnewski-Smith said.

“The next couple of months will be all about education and guidance so that it will soon become a normal part of procedure.”

One of the main concerns of the non-smoking policy is for the mental health patients who have a much larger percentage of smokers and who are likely to find it more difficult to give up the habit during their stay at the Campus.

“We want to place a lot of emphasis on guiding and assisting these people, and making sure it is done in a positive way,” Wisnewskit-Smith said.

Like all changes in policy, there are going to be those who have a difficult time adjusting so to ensure the reinforcement of non-smoking is done in a positive way staff members will approach anyone breaching the non-smoking rules and provide them with a “quit bag” which contains pamphlets to help quit smoking.

After the success of the policy in Perth for the last six months and in New Zealand for the last 12 months, Wisnewski-Smith is confident the policy will be a success.

Hospitals and Health Centres are the latest in a trend of phasing out smoking in a number of public places to encourage community members to quit the habit and to prevent non smokers from inhaling second hand smoke while out in public.