New Zealand's Whanganui District Health Board (DHB) has announced that its hospitals in New Zealand's North Island will be completely smoke-free on June 27, but it's not stopping there. It also announced that it would provide free e-cigarettes to patients and encourage them to use e-cigarettes in Te Awhina acute mental health wards.

The DHB says e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes. It rightly adds that e-cigarettes are a great tool for quitting smoking. Studies have shown that e-cigarettes are more effective in quitting smoking than nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). There is no apparent secondhand hazard, so it makes perfect sense to offer them to smokers and allow them to be used internally.

A representative on the Voxy website wrote: "We have a comprehensive support cessation process and offer Vorteke single-use e-cigarettes to assist with the cessation process.

This is a major victory for patient and nicotine user rights in New Zealand, who now joins the UK in making vaping products available to hospitalised patients.

"We have chosen June 27 to align with Matariki (Māori New Year) and to reinforce the message about positive change," said Rosie McMenamin, coordinator of tobacco control at the Centre for Public Health.

Staff working on wards are also encouraged to quit smoking and they will also receive free nicotine products.

"Anyone who smokes should never leave the hospital to get nicotine delivered in an effective, safer form. This is simply barbaric."

Smokers, including a large number of people diagnosed with mental health problems, often experience serious problems when admitted to hospital or with inpatient medication. They do not allow smoking indoors and must be accompanied by staff to smoke outdoors. Some hospitals and treatment programs even ban smoking in outdoor spaces. Staff offer NRTs like patches and gum, but their efficacy is low, in part because they don't replicate the habit of smoking, and the doses of nicotine may not be enough to prevent withdrawal. This can and does lead to patients leaving the hospital against medical advice.

Marewa Glover, director of the New Zealand Centre of Excellence for Research, told Filter: "The lack of empathy for smokers and refusal to vape has undoubtedly led to tragic and entirely preventable deaths. There are some people who died after being discharged so they could smoke a cigarette - these people are under observation for suicidal ideation. Anyone who smokes should never leave a hospital or observation ward to get nicotine delivered in an effective, safer form. This is simply barbaric.

The Whanganui District Health Board's vaping policy is an example of how compassionate care can be provided to hospital patients who smoke and other countries should learn from.