NO one who visits Worcestershire Royal Hospital can fail to notice the smokers. Banished from the canopy just outside the main entrance, they now line the railings in front of the building or congregate under the bus shelter in the car park directly opposite.

However, if health bosses have their way, there soon won't be a smoker to be seen anywhere outside the Royal - and the same goes for Kidderminster Hospital and the Alexandra in Redditch.

Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust chiefs want to ban smoking entirely at all three of its hospitals. This means smokers will have to actually leave hospital land before they are allowed to light up.

Most smokers are resigned to not sparking up indoors when the ban on smoking in public places comes into effect on July 1, but is this latest proposal a ban too far?

It's understandable that those people responsible for our health want to make smoking as difficult as they can - after all, they have to deal with its horrific effects.

But an attempt to prevent people from lighting up in the open air - where they are harming no one but themselves - may prove ineffective.

For a start, die-hard smokers will simply duck into nearby Worcester Woods to light up. The unsightly problem will be shifted elsewhere and the number of people who actually give up - surely the aim of the ban - will be minimal.

Also, perhaps health chiefs are missing a trick by pushing for a ban. The sight of sick, sunken-cheeked people still puffing grimly outside the hospital probably does more to persuade other smokers to give up than any ban ever would.