"We have people getting out of their cars and lighting up a last cigarette before they come in," she added. "They keep smoking right up to the doors and when staff ask them not to smoke they get all kinds of abuse. "They use the f-word and anything else to hand and there have been cases of people approaching staff in an aggressive manner." Mrs Baker revealed smoking staff were unhappy with the restrictions and a number of nurses had turned to anti-smoking measures offered by dedicated staff member Julia North. But Neil Rafferty, a spokesman for smokers‘ rights group Forest, said the policy of banning smoking in the open air was drivel’. "They make it up as they go along," he said, "hospitals have a duty to encourage healthy living but they are not there to tell us how to live our lives.