New Zealand:  DHB Forcing Elderly to Quit Smoking

Source from:  NZCity (nz)  07/08/2013

Manawatu health authorities are being accused of forcing elderly rest home residents to quit smoking by banning lighting up in and around their homes.

The New Zealand Aged Care Association says MidCentral DHB's new contract with rest homes and hospitals means residents won't be able to even smoke outside their homes from July next year.

"A blanket approach to smoking ignores the rights of the elderly in a setting which is meant to be as home-like as possible," said association chief executive Martin Taylor.

"It also ignores the reality that in one of the most difficult stages of someone's life the DHB wants to forcibly stop the elderly doing something that brings them comfort. It's tantamount to elder abuse."

The average age of entry into aged residential care is 84. Those residents grew up in an era where smoking was accepted, cheap and deemed to be healthy, he said.

"Don't get me wrong smoking is an unhealthy habit, but if you have managed to be a smoker for a few decades and beat the odds and enter aged residential care you should have this lifestyle choice supported."

The DHB's contract stipulates that all internal areas must be smoke-free from December and all external areas smoke-free from July next year.

In a statement, the DHB's funding manager Mike Grant said a number of providers supported the policy.

The DHB had been progressively including smoke-free clauses on a voluntary basis and it was so popular it was agreed to roll this into all future contracts.

Mr Taylor said the DHB could also be breaking the law, as the Smoke Free Environments Act allowed for people in residential and care institutions to smoke. Enditem