Hospital staff and patients in Rotorua and Taupo will be banned from smoking anywhere on hospital grounds from the end of this year.
The Lakes District Health Board plans to extend its smokefree policy to cover the hospitals' open-air grounds, as well as its existing smokefree areas such as buildings and vehicles.
At present, staff have designated smoking areas which are out of sight of the public. Patients are encouraged not to smoke but exemptions are given to terminally ill and mental health patients.
The smokefree rule will bring the Lakes district into line with other areas such as Bay of Plenty, which plans to stub out smoking at Tauranga Hospital from the end of next month.
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