It’s time to butt out at Kingston General Hospital.

And to prove that point, a work crew removed a smoking hut on Friday located on George Street, one of three such smokers enclosures on the KGH property.

At a news conference adjacent to the hut, the hospital announced it will be completely smoke-free by Sunday.

Gone are the days when patients, sometimes attached to an intravenous tube, or staff members dedicated to keeping others healthy, could be seen partaking in a cigarette on KGH property.

Now they’ll have to find a place on the sidewalk to have a smoke.

The hospital needs to put the health of its patients, visitors and clients first, said Jim Flett, chief operating officer of KGH, which was the motivation to end smoking on their property.

"The organization, being a hospital, really needs to support keeping people healthy. There’s so many things that smoking contributes to that causes poor health," Flett said.

Another motivation for the change is the hospital, a care provider, needs to provide an overall healthy environment for anyone who comes to, or works at, the hospital.

"The decision was made several years ago that we had to get there, but to get there we had to go through all the things to prepare for it," Flett said.

Patients and staff will be given cessation aids if they want to quit smoking, including offering free nicotine replacement products.

Now, patients have to declare when entering the hospital if they use tobacco.

If a patient wants to leave the property to smoke, they must discuss it with their doctor or nurse.

It has taken a few years, said Flett, to get to the point where they can now ban smoking on their property.

"We’ve worked hard to get that all in place so now we can go smoke-free."

Flett said he’s not expecting a backlash from staff on the new rules.

"There’s been so much change going on in society. It is difficult and we want to make it as easy for people as we can," he said. "But we do realize a lot of people don’t want to be near secondhand smoke as well."

Flett remembers when smoking was allowed inside the hospital, then only being allowed outside on hospital property, to now having it banned completely.

"Part of the journey was putting these smoking huts in so people could co-exist with each other, and now that we have all the supports in place, it’s an opportunity for us to move to the next step."

Ashley Hendry, manager of Southeast Regional Cancer Centre, said she worked on a committee for more than a year made up of patient experience advisers, clinical educators, security and other staff forming the policy.

"We looked at other hospitals to see what they’ve done so we can have a smooth transition to this," she said.

The committee followed the Ottawa Heart Institute’s model for smoking cessation in its inpatient units.

"So we can have a systematic approach to support patients when they come into hospital so that we can address their smoking needs while they’re here," she said, "not necessarily telling them they have to quit when they’re here, but at least getting them to make a quit attempt and abstain from smoking while they’re on the property."

Hendry said security personnel have been trained to do non-confrontational intervention, giving people advice and providing information for patients, visitors and staff. Also, volunteers and staff will be available to provide smoke-free advice.

Hendry added that other hospitals haven’t gone as far with their no-smoking policy as KGH’s has.

"We are a bit ahead of the game," Hendry said.

Doug Davey, a patient experience adviser at KGH, quit smoking more than 30 years ago.

"I know from experience no one can help you quit. If you want to quit, you’re going to quit," said 67-year-old Davey, who has been a frequent patient at KGH for a variety of orthopedic procedures over the years.

Davey hopes the support the hospital will have for people wanting to quit works.

"When you get here, you got to know where you can go to get a piece of gum that’s going to get you by the hour or so you’re here. If you’re going to be here longer than an hour or so, tell them. They’ll give you a patch.

"This is going to get help you get by until you get back outside and have your smoke."

Telling smokers not to smoke doesn’t work, Davey said.

"I didn’t want (the hospital) to make a rule that I knew (the smokers) were going to break."

Flett believes smokers are more cognizant of where their smoke goes and how it affects others.

"Now it seems more and more a rarity and people are more and more accepting of not smoking near other people," Flett said.

"There’s still lots to be done and people are still going to find new ways to support people to help the transition to non-smoking. The journey is not over yet."

ian.macalpine@sunmedia.ca

Twitter.com @IanMacAlpine