Health groups have welcomed a call to ban smoking in hospital grounds.

Health watchdog Nice has urged hospitals to remove smoking shelters and enforce zero tolerance to lighting-up on their premises.

A spokesman for Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals said they were reviewing the guidelines “to see if any changes are necessary.”

The proposal comes six months after the Examiner reported that security guards were being used to step up enforcement of the smoking ban at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary following a raft of complaints.

Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust received 15 formal complaints about second-hand smoke at the infirmary last year.

Complainants said they felt like they were “running the gauntlet” as they entered the premises through “clouds of cigarette smoke.”

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity ASH, said: “Allowing smoking on the grounds, particularly providing shelters for smokers, sends entirely the wrong message and condones smoking.

“NICE quite rightly recommends instead that hospitals should go completely smoke-free and do everything they can to support and encourage smokers to quit, whether they’re patients, staff or visitors.”

Patient groups for people with breathing difficulties such as asthma and cystic fibrosis also backed the plan.

Rory Deighton, director of the recently founded Healthwatch Kirklees, said: “As patients we have rights, but we also have responsibilities to look after ourselves, to eat well, to exercise, to drink sensibly, and maybe that includes not smoking when you are in hospital too.”

The move has been welcomed by Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman.

He said: “NICE must be right on smoking in or around hospitals but support to quit is essential.”