SMOKING shelters could be installed at hospitals after health bosses admitted failure in policing an outright ban.

However, the areas would be for visitors and patients only, with new disciplinary measures being considered to deal with staff flouting the rule.

It comes after the picture of a staff member smoking near an entrance was published in the Oxford Mail.

The Oxford University Hospitals Trust (OUH) said it has been unable to stub out the problem of smoking on hospital grounds despite introducing a blanket ban in 2007.

It came into force before the law change later that year that prohibited lighting up in public places such as bars, pubs and restaurants.

However years of slack enforcement has resulted in renewed pressure for the trust to act from anti- smoking campaigners.

The OUH has said it would look at installing the shelters at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Churchill Hospital, and at The Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

The move comes despite action by NHS watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care (Nice) to draw up guidelines on smoking in hospital grounds that could see the shelters banned entirely.

The OUH said it was “only exploring” the option and would wait for guidance before implementing any change.

The trust has been facing pressure in recent weeks over enforcing its current policy.

Last month, Carterton resident Andrew Whitehead photographed a member of staff smoking in grounds of the John Radcliffe.

He said his requests to meet with the bosses to talk about how he could help had been ignored. The 62-year-old said: “It seems that they may have promised action when we were making noise and then hoped we would go away. But they are very wrong.

“Their policy is non-smoking on site and they must enforce it.”

Mr Whitehead has written to chief executive Sir Jonathan Michael several times to highlight the issue.

A spokeswoman from OUH said: “We have had regular communication with Mr Whitehead on this issue over a number of years. We recognise his, and our frustration in our on-going efforts to prevent people smoking on our four hospital sites. We are now reviewing the policy to consider what other measures can be put in place.

“This includes exploring the option of installing shelters which will provide a designated smoking area for patients and visitors.”

It has also faced complaints from trainee doctor Jean-François Gélinas, 27, a student in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences of the University of Oxford.

He said he mayapproach the Government if the trust failed to act, adding: “I will be pushing as hard as I can to make sure the ban is enforced.”