Smoke Free Hospitals

Galway University Hospitals operates a strict No Smoking Policy. Our aim is to promote a healthy environment for everyone in our hospitals.  This includes patients, visitors and staff and includes buildings, building entrances, and vehicles.

No one is allowed to smoke in any of the hospital buildings or at any of the hospital entrances. Anyone seen smoking outside of designated areas will be asked to stop.

We acknowledge that stopping smoking is not easy and want to help people by offering them the necessary advice and support and putting them in touch with our Smoking Cessation Officer.

What does this mean for patients and visitors?

Patients and visitors are not permitted to smoke anywhere inside hospital buildings or at the entrance to buildings.  Patients may leave the hospital to smoke providing they receive permission form ward staff to leave the ward and providing they smoke in the designated hospital gazebos.

If you are a patient and are attached to any medical attachment e.g. drips, drains, machines or tubes, you must not leave the ward unless allowed to do so by the clinical team.

Please note the following:-

• If you leave the hospital environment with equipment attached to you, it creates a health and safety hazard for you and for other people because the risk of infection will be increased.

• Nursing staff need to be able to monitor patients attached to medical equipment and if a patient leaves the ward, nursing staff will not be able to do this. This is potentially very dangerous and could result in a patient becoming ill.  

Both patients and visitors are asked not to smoke at our hospital entrances. Some of these may be enclosed spaces but even those that are not are designated smoke free areas. Smoking at entrances causes a health hazard for other people who have to walk through smokey air to gain access to our hospitals.

GUH Smoke Free Policy for Patients and Visitors

National Smokers' Quitline