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| Patients lose smoking ban appeal | Patients lose smoking ban appeal |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| High Court judges have ruled psychiatric patients should not be allowed to smoke at a high security mental hospital. | High Court judges have ruled psychiatric patients should not be allowed to smoke at a high security mental hospital. |
| The patients should not endanger their own and others' health by smoking at Rampton hospital in Nottinghamshire, the judges ruled. | The patients should not endanger their own and others' health by smoking at Rampton hospital in Nottinghamshire, the judges ruled. |
| Three patients had argued a ban on them smoking "in the privacy of their own home" violated their human rights. | |
| But the judges ruled any interference with their rights was justified. | |
| Both health and security considerations justify the ban Lord Justice Pill | Both health and security considerations justify the ban Lord Justice Pill |
| Lord Justice Pill said: "There is very strong evidence that smoking causes disease and endangers the health of the smokers themselves and other people who live and work in their vicinity. | |
| "There is, in our view, powerful evidence that, in the interests of public health, strict limitations upon smoking, and a complete ban in appropriate circumstances, are justified." | "There is, in our view, powerful evidence that, in the interests of public health, strict limitations upon smoking, and a complete ban in appropriate circumstances, are justified." |
| The judge added the smoking ban was also justified by security difficulties posed by allowing inmates - many of whom have "dangerous, violent or criminal propensities" - to smoke outside in Rampton's grounds. | |
| "Rampton is operated as a hospital by National Health Service staff and distinction between it and prisons and other accommodation is justified," he said. | |
| "Like other hospitals, it is smoke-free. Both health and security considerations justify the ban even though smoking in the grounds, which may be possible at other hospitals, is not feasible at Rampton," Lord Justice Pill said in a decision made along with Mr Justice Silber. | "Like other hospitals, it is smoke-free. Both health and security considerations justify the ban even though smoking in the grounds, which may be possible at other hospitals, is not feasible at Rampton," Lord Justice Pill said in a decision made along with Mr Justice Silber. |
| Appeal banned | |
| A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said prisoners are able to smoke in their cells, but not in common areas, and prisoners are encouraged to quit or reduce smoking. | A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said prisoners are able to smoke in their cells, but not in common areas, and prisoners are encouraged to quit or reduce smoking. |
| Lawyers for the patients had argued the smoking ban meant they would be the only group of people in the country banned from smoking "in the privacy of their own home". | |
| The patients had also challenged the legality of a decision by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which manages Rampton, to impose the ban from April last year. | The patients had also challenged the legality of a decision by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which manages Rampton, to impose the ban from April last year. |
| The three patients who brought the case, all of them legally-aided, were denied permission to appeal against the High Court's ruling. | |
| The court imposed an order banning the identification of the three patients. | The court imposed an order banning the identification of the three patients. |