GLADYS, 93, IS TOLD: IF YOU WANT A CIGGIE, GET OUT THE HOUSE

A WOMAN in a wheelchair must go outside into the cold weather for a cigarette even though she is 93 - because smoking is banned in her nursing home.

Gladys Gornall, known as Chris, of the Norwood Lodge Nursing Home in Nore Road, Portishead, took up smoking 10 years ago after her husband died.

Daughter Joan Mock, 68, says it is the only thing she has left that keeps her happy.

And she says she fears her mother is more likely to die from exposure to cold winter weather than from smoking.

Mrs Mock said: "She's 93, she's in a wheelchair and she has to smoke outside. Last week I had to stand outside with her with an umbrella over her while it rained. We know it's not politically correct any more, but she is old and she will die of hypothermia rather than smoking at this rate."

Mrs Gornall said: "I'm sick and tired of going out there in the cold. I'm fed up with the whole situation. What else have I got to look forward to? I've got no other pleasures."

Mrs Mock said the home used to have a small room where smokers could light up. But she said the smoking ban in the building has now been enforced for health and safety reasons.

She said: "For God's sake, what can she do? There aren't any other smokers in the home now. This is all she has left as her bit of independence. It's so pathetic."

She said relatives of other residents at the home have sympathised with Mrs Gornall's plight.

The only real health problem the pensioner has is osteoarthritis in her knees.

Mrs Mock said: "She says they aren't going to stop her having a fag."

Mrs Gornall moved into the home with her husband, Albert, in 1996 but he died within weeks of their arrival. She took up smoking soon after his death.

Gill Lee, group operations manager for Belmont Care, which owns the home, said the non-smoking policy had been in place since before Mrs Gornall went into the nursing home. She said: "We've had a policy for years in Norwood Lodge of no smoking, mainly on health and safety grounds.

"Mrs Gornall, her daughter and her social worker had a meeting with the matron in May 2005 to explain to her the no-smoking policy in the home, and this was confirmed to her in writing."

She said none of the staff smoke inside the building. But she would not comment on whether the company's policy on enforcing the smoking ban had been tightened.

And she said allowing Mrs Gornall just to smoke in her own room would be "even worse".

She said: "To allow smoking in their room would cause even more health and safety issues."

Someone pays 3500.00 a month to die in a nursing home. THEY are paying huge money. Not you. Not buying,......... renting to die. They are more than paying their way to have a smoke,. Not by the dumpster, or outside in 19 degree weather. But, in their 3500.00 a month apt.

A nursing home is signficantly different than an apartment. The whole purpose of a nursing home is that the people in it are incapable of taking care of themselves. They have to be NURSED. Many are in various stages of Alzheimers. The position that you and others have taken is bizzare to say the least.

Where exactly do you draw the line in letting patients smoke inside? Do you want designated smoking times where paid healthcare professionals wheel residents into a room at set intervals, light up their smokes for them and put the cigarettes to their lips? Or do you envision all those bed ridden and wheelchair bound patients pretty much lighting up their smokes in their rooms? Do you draw the line at smoking "freedom" to those who have a certain level of mental capacity? Or do you believe that Alzheimer patients who have forgotten how to use a toothbrush are responsible enough to use matches and cigarettes safely?

Or is it your argument that those who pay money to a private or public institution should be able to make the rules by virtue of the fact that they make payments? Good luck with that one.

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