HOSPITAL bosses have urged staff to crack down on patients who smoke, despite reports that care workers have been verbally abused.

A small number of patients being treated at the South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust, particularly at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, are smoking in and around the hospital, despite it being a smoke-free site.

The trust board was told yesterday that hospital staff needed to report instances of patients smoking, "strongly discourage" them from lighting up and encourage them to sign up for nicotine replacement therapy.

However, these efforts are being undermined by the behaviour of some staff at the trust's Northallerton site, it was claimed.

Some staff at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, have been spotted taking smoking breaks on housing association garden benches close to the hospital grounds.

Bosses at the 1,000-bed trust are also concerned that too few staff have signed up for training courses designed to equip staff with the information needed to challenge smoking patients and persuade them to give up.

The report states: "Without the training, insufficient or no advice is given to patients who continue to smoke in the hospital grounds (most commonly found at the back of the staff restaurant on the James Cook hospital site)."

Officials have said it is important that both medical and nursing staff prescribe nicotine replacement therapy to patients while they are in hospital.

Efforts to persuade members of the public to stop smoking have been greeted with verbal abuse, the report notes.

The trust board has agreed to increase the number of no smoking signs, challenge members of the public while promoting a health and safety message, and increase the availability of nicotine replacement therapy for persistent smokers.