Significant waits in our Emergency Department

Our Emergency Department at King’s Mill Hospital is extremely busy. This is leading to severe overcrowding and is causing long waits for patients. If you have a serious injury or life-threatening condition, we are here for you - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When it is urgent but not an emergency, use NHS 111

Smoking


All hospital grounds which include all buildings, grounds, gardens and car parks are smokefree. This applies to all patients, staff, visitors and contractors. If you do smoke on the site you can expect to be told to extinguish your cigarette. It is against the law to smoke inside the hospital buildings or under shelters near entrances. 

Like all hospitals, we work with a range of flammable and explosive materials and gases, including oxygen. Smoking is a major fire and explosion risk for our hospitals and puts all of us in danger, with vulnerable patients being most at risk. Please help to keep us and yourself safe by not smoking on our sites and by not bringing cigarettes and lighters with you.

Patients who are admitted to our hospital will be supported to remain smokefree throughout their admission. They will be asked if they have ever smoked and all smokers will be provided with:

  • Brief advice about stopping smoking
  • Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) to reduce nicotine withdrawal symptoms and cravings
  • A referral to a specialist stop smoking service to get further support to help remain smokefree during your stay and beyond.

There are 121,000 smokers in Nottinghamshire and one person dies every week in the county from a smoking-related illness. We know that stopping smoking is hard but 70% of smokers when asked want to quit and 98% of children wish their parents would give up smoking. The benefits of stopping smoking are almost immediate: quitters will soon see reduced blood pressure, easier breathing and better circulation. This can mean a that current health conditions will improve, aiding recovering and preventing you returning to hospital as well as reducing the risk of future health problems. 

In October 2014 the Board of Directors signed up to the Nottinghamshire Tobacco Control Procedure, which involves having a smokefree site, in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines (opens in new window).

For some tips on stopping smoking see the NHS choices website (opens in new window). 

If you know you are visiting our hospital sites we ask that you do not smoke onsite. If you are visiting a patient please support them to remain smokefree by not taking them out to smoke and removing any temptation for them to smoke e.g. take their cigarettes and lighter away. Please bear in mind that staff are not able to take patients out to smoke as they cannot leave the ward and have to support the smokefree site. 

If you know you will be staying with us, undergoing a procedure or having an operation we recommend that you stop smoking before your visit where possible. Smokers are 38% more likely to die after surgery than non-smokers (ASH, 2016). You will be asked about your smoking when you have your pre-op and the health professionals in the team can support you to stop smoking and refer you to the local support services.

To maximise your chances of successfully stopping smoking we advise that you have support from our in-house service during your stay – the Tobacco Dependency Service (TDS) can be contacted on internal extension 6066. The TDS will provide support and treatment such as NRT, advise you on the best way to stay smoke free when you go home, and explain the support that is available from your local service. Your local service can provide up to 12 weeks of behavioural support and NRT free of charge, and can be accessed over the phone or in person.

E-cigarettes

It is recognised that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes but they are not harmless. The use of e-cigarettes is permitted on site. We therefore recommend that you use NRT to help you stop. While you are staying with us, NRT can be made available to you free of charge.

Make a referral to Your Health Service 

To refer yourself or, with their permission, refer someone else, visit the Your Health Notts website (opens in new window).