While some unhappiness has been expressed over the total smoking ban introduced on all Northern Ireland health and social care sites yesterday, most people will give a strong welcome to the measure.
The Public Health Agency is fully entitled to stress that it wants to lead the way in helping to change the wider culture, and highlight why cigarettes are unacceptable in our hospitals in particular.
It is entirely reasonable for everyone who uses health facilities, whether they are giving care or receiving it, to expect that they will do so in a nicotine-free environment.
There may be initial inconvenience as smokers who are hospital patients become used to the new guidelines, but there is every reason to hope that it will only be a short-term difficulty.
