Many people might well be surprised that in this day and age smoking is allowed anywhere in hospitals. Tobacco is a known killer, mainly through lung cancer and heart disease. The fact that it is tolerated at all in areas where maintaining or repairing health is the prime motive seems illogical.

It is an unfortunate fact, though, that nicotine is highly addictive. Although people can be helped to live without it, they cannot be forced to give it up even though remaining a smoker could in many cases probably be doing more harm to their health than the reason they went into hospital in the first place.

However, despite acknowledging the addiction of a minority, hospitals have to do all they can to make the environment as comfortable and risk-free as possible for the growing majority who find smoking obnoxious and don't want to have to endure the effects of the habit of others.

So it is right that Bradford Hospitals Trust is stepping up its anti-smoking policy by allocating special outdoors smoking shelters for patients and visitors at the BRI - although it is alarming that it should feel it necessary to train staff to cope with any violent reaction to the suggestion that people should stop putting their health and their lives at risk inside the hospital itself.

Those who are directly affected by this policy should think hard about the accompanying offer of help to beat their habit. It is time those who reject such support started to think again about the consequences of their smoking, not only for their own health but for the health and comfort of other people.