Hull Royal Infirmary wants to sign up a fruit and veg vendor for an experiment designed to cut on-site smoking.
The idea is to set up a commercial fruit and veg stall at the hospital entrance which will not only make it easier for patients, staff, and visitors to get their ‘5-a-day’, it is hoped the move will reduce the number of people who smoke at the hospital entrance, and in turn, who smoke on site at all.
Amy Brocklesby, NHS Project Lead for Tobacco Dependency at Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust said: “The Hull Royal Infirmary site has been officially Smokefree for several years, but we have struggled to discourage smoking on the grounds. People don’t always feel comfortable or empowered to ask people not to smoke on site.
“To encourage a more natural shift in behaviours, we’re now taking the lead from a number of other hospitals across the country who have introduced fresh fruit and vegetable stalls in their hospital grounds.
“Evidence from those hospitals shows that people tend to refrain from smoking tobacco around fresh produce, so we’d love to share the opportunity to promote healthier behaviours with a local grower or retailer and help support local trade too.
“The staff who we’ve spoken to so far have been overwhelmingly positive about the idea, so we’d now like to see if it works in practice”.
Amy and her team are initially looking to run a short trial of between four and six weeks in the first instance.
Businesses interested in the opportunity to sell fresh produce at HRI are asked to contact Amy Brocklesby on 07976 854904
