Hunter New England Health has confirmed it has recently “renewed” efforts to ensure a smoke- free policy dating back to October, 2006, is “consistently implemented across all shifts”.

The impact of the heightened restrictions was first flagged late last month when Deirdre Christian, whose son suffers from a mental illness, told The Leader patients might be dissuaded from seeking treatment at Banksia because of the ban.

A Tamworth mental health worker, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the smoking ban had resulted in aggravation for the patients.

This, in turn, led to an increased incidence of abuse, assaults and threats to nursing staff.

The worker, who feared losing their job if their identity was known, has described the ban as farcical with it being breached daily.

“Before the ban, patients smoked in two outside areas and the air inside the unit was fresh,” they said.

“Since the ban was introduced... you can usually smell the cigarette smoke on any visit to the unit.”

The Leader source said it was unlikely the increased harassment of staff generated by the ban was being reported to management.

“Clinical staff now spend a large portion of their time trying to uphold the ban – or dealing with patients affected by it.

“What nurse... has time to constantly fill out incident reports every time a patient is upset or medicated or a nurse is abused, threatened or assaulted because some poor patient can’t have a smoke?”

The worker said the ban had effectively turned Banksia patients into criminals.

“These patients, already suffering an often disempowering and stigmatising illness, must feel like criminals, having to smuggle ‘contraband’ into the unit, often in their underwear or body cavities,” our informant said.

“I hate smoking with a passion, but the smoking patients, and it seems the majority of staff at Banksia, hate the smoking ban.