A WATERLOO woman is complaining about patients smoking in hospital.

The woman, who does not want to be named, says that non-smoking patients and visitors are affected when they have to "run the gauntlet" of smokers at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and breathe in second- hand cigarette smoke at St Luke's Hospital, Crosland Moor, and the Holme Valley Memorial Hospital, Holmfirth.

The woman, who has complained to Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust and Huddersfield Labour MP Barry Sheerman, said: "My mother-in-law is an elderly person with a circulatory illness.

"Effectively, she has become a passive smoker whilst in the care of the NHS on two occasions.

"While in Holme Valley Memorial Hospital she was sitting within three metres of a smoking area that has open doors into the patients' conservatory and walkway into the dining room.

"While in St Luke's, she was often sitting in the ward TV lounge, with smoking allowed at one end.

"The smell clearly permeated the whole of the lounge as well as the ward area."

She added: "Running the gauntlet of smokers when entering Huddersfield Royal Infirmary is very unpleasant and the smoke tends to get blown into the main foyer area.

A spokesperson for South Huddersfield Primary Care Trust, which runs the Holme Valley Memorial Hospital, said: "We are not in a position to prevent patients from smoking.

"Rather than have smoking occur in an uncontrolled manner, we have provided a designated area, so that the very small number of patients who choose to smoke at Holme Valley Memorial Hospital, can do so in a supervised, designated area."

A spokesman for the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, which runs the Infirmary and parts of St Luke's, added: "Smoking at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary is restricted to two designated rooms for patients and staff and the shelter at the main entrance.

"These facilities are provided to ensure the reduction of any risk factors associated with patients or staff smoking in inappropriate areas.

"Elsewhere the hospital is a smoke free zone and wherever possible the Trust encourages patients and staff to stop smoking."