EAST Lancashire health bosses have refused a UKIP request to allow patients to use e-cigarettes in the grounds of their hospitals in Blackburn, Burnley and elsewhere.

The party’s Lancashire vice-chairman James Barker has written to the chairmen of health trusts covering hospitals in Nelson, Burnley, Blackburn, Accrington, Clitheroe, and Chorley to query their policy on e-cigarettes.

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The letters follow last week’s Public Health England research claiming the devices were 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco.

Mr Barker said: ‘It is now clear that e-cigarettes are a great boon to public health and that the NHS should be supporting them.

‘Many or most users of e-cigarettes are being treated unfairly and unwisely.

“This bullying of citizens, by banning them from car-parks and pathways as well as hospital buildings, has to stop.”

Dr Rineke Schram, chief medical officer at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is a smoke-free trust.

“ The smoking of cigarettes or e-cigarettes is not permitted on any of our sites.

“The Trust has no plans to alter its stance on this.”