Hospital staff are to be trained to deal with patients and visitors who become aggressive when forced to smoke outside.

The training is part of a £50,000 plan to rejig Bradford Hospitals Trust's smoking policy - which has seen new outdoor shelters built in the grounds for smokers.

Patients are to be banned from smoking on the wards and corridors, but staff smoking rooms will remain.

The policy for the city's two hospitals was approved by the Trust's board and three shelters have been built in the grounds of BRI.

Most patients and visitors will be directed to the shelters and also offered help to kick smoking into touch.

Special exceptions will be made for patients too ill or incapacitated to get to the shelters with special safe areas for them to smoke.

But there are fears the staff could face threats and intimidation from determined smokers - and so will receive training to handle any tense stand-offs.

David Jackson, chief executive of Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, described the policy as a "major and potentially controversial matter" and said all staff would be expected to enforce it with patients and visitors.

He said: "It won't be easy and could result in confrontational situations which is why staff need training in assertion to help them cope."

Concern arisen over the number of patients and visitors smoking in the main entrances and corridors. Mr Jackson originally set up a group to tackle the problem and it rejected a plan to ban smoking outright at both BRI and St Luke's hospitals, fearing illicit smoking would increase fire risks.

Instead it opted to have the shelters in accessible locations but away from the public's view.

The largest of the shelters at BRI is just off the main corridor in reception, another is by the West door and the third is outside the maternity unit.

To help make smoking less of a problem, hospital staff will be encouraging visitors not to bring in cigarettes and tobacco for patients and there'll soon be an information blitz telling people about the new rules with fliers, posters and signs guiding the way to the shelters.

Compulsory training for senior managers is expected to start towards the end of June and continue from then for all staff from porters and receptionists to nurses and doctors - anyone dealing with the public.

Operations Director Philip Turner said: "The emphasis will be how to assertively challenge people who are smoking in a non-designated area and how to handle any conflict that might arise.

"Some people will be fine about it, others will be totally obnoxious and I don't want staff to get into a situation they can't deal with.

"If it became threatening we have our own low-key security people who could deal with it and if they felt the situation was becoming dangerous we would have no hesitation in calling the police."