Sir – Some years ago you were kind enough to do a feature on the menace of smokers from the Churchill Hospital using the adjacent Massey Close to smoke, with the attendant issues of litter, smoke and the sight of staff indulging in their habit for all (residents, patients and visitors to the hospital) to witness.

I have written to the chief executive again this week to complain about the escalation of this problem, and to point out that it is as a direct result of the OUH policy of creating a non smoking environment on all trust sites. In my letter, I pointed out that this policy has quite clearly failed. Having worked for the trust I know places on the Churchill Hospital site which are used as covert smoking areas for staff, and this half-baked policy has also resulted in displacing the problem to adjacent residential areas.

Can we please have a sensible debate about the need to promote smoking cessation, whilst at the same time recognise that for those who will not, or cannot stop smoking, there must be proper provision, away from both patients and residents, for those who feel the need to have a cigarette. We do, after all, belong to the same community.

Stephen Cole
Headington