THERE is much farce - and some would say, stupidity - in the revised rules on smoking in Blackburn district hospitals now being proposed to health chiefs.

For, in addition to the ridiculous detail that would have staff going in disguise to light up in daylight, but free to smoke openly by night, these new rules are an unwise relaxation of the principle that smoking is bad.

And, we think, no health trust should be a party to that.

True, the suggested changes are a recognition of the addictiveness of tobacco and of the lengths to which smokers will go to pursue their dangerous habit.

Nonetheless, it is the duty of our health chiefs not to assist them, but always to deter them.

They should stick to the principle - and police the reality of it being broken by NHS employees rather than giving in to them.

The neighbouring Burnley NHS Trust, we note, does not pussyfoot on this issue. There, smoking by staff anywhere on Trust premises invites the sack.

And just look at how silly this watered-down policy being proposed at Blackburn would be in practice. During the day, the current ban on smoking in all hospital buildings would still apply to the staff, but the prohibition on them lighting up in the grounds would be lifted. But only if the smokers' uniform is not visible.

This is a cop-out by the bosses - with them not wanting employees such as nurses to smoke at all, but turning a blind eye to them doing so if they participate in a pretence for public relations purposes.

Consider, too, the flip side of that subterfuge. At night, in order to prevent staff being mugged or molested while on an outdoor smoking break, they will be allowed to smoke in certain internal areas of the hospitals! The rules are completely reversed at sunrise and sunset!

This outlook bows to the they-are-going-to-do-it-anyway school of thought - when health bosses, confronted daily with the lethal effects and financial costs of smoking-related illnesses, should in fact be doing their utmost to defeat the curse of tobacco. For them to water down that ethic would be not only silly, but shameful.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.