Judgments

Secretary for Health v Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust & Equality & Human Rights Commission

29/07/09

11KBW’s Jonathan Swift and Karen Steyn acted for the Secretary of State for Health. The claim was brought by patients detained at Rampton high security psychiatric hospital . The Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the Divisional Court that the prohibition on smoking inside was lawful. Smoking was not an activity protected under ECHR Article 8(1); and even if it was, the prohibition was justified under Article 8(2). Nor was the prohibition in breach of Article 14 of the Convention. The Court also upheld the Hospital’s own policy which, save in exceptional cases, prohibited smoking in the Hospital’s grounds.