Attitudes to smoking and smoking habit among the staff of a hospital.

A survey of the smoking habits and attitudes towards smoking of all staff working in a teaching hospital with a specialist thoracic department has been carried out. Six hundred and sixty three (70%) of the 949 members of staff returned a voluntary self completed questionnaire. Completion rates were highest among medical, administrative, and clerical staff, and lowest among domestic and catering staff. Of the 663 responders, 136 (23%) admitted to being current smokers and 135 (19%) to being ex-smokers. The great majority of responders (81-94%, depending on area of work) believed that more areas of the hospital should be entirely smoking free. Most responders, however, believed that some accommodation should be made available to staff (70%), patients (52%), or visitors (59%) who wished to smoke. About a quarter of smokers expressed interest in joining a group to help them give up smoking.