Nurses, patients and an Orange solicitor have complained the ban is being administered through stand-over tactics, with some patients subjected to physical searches by security staff if they refuse to hand over cigarettes.

They also said other patients have been threatened with loss of ground leave or lockdown in a secure unit.

Bloomfield’s management introduced the smoking ban in November.

Before that, patients were permitted to smoke in designated outdoor areas on the campus.

They now have to use nicotine replacement therapies and those who want to continue smoking, including those entitled to leave the grounds, are forbidden from doing so.

NSW Health says it supports the ban, but it is not mandated in its smoking policy, which still grants concessions on compassionate grounds to patients such as the mentally and terminally ill.

On Friday the hospital declined to answer questions, including whether patients were being searched or threatened with a loss of privileges if they refused to hand over cigarettes.

The Central Western Daily understands legal action is being considered against the hospital.

“It’s an infringement of civil liberties aimed at the most disadvantaged people in our community, which puts them in a lower position than people in our jails,” solicitor Neil Jones said.

A nurse who spoke to the CWD said one Bloomfield patient had demanded he be sent to prison after he was denied access to cigarettes.

“My concern is there’s a big erosion of their human rights,” the nurse said.

“The policy doesn’t say they can confiscate their cigarettes if they want to go off the grounds and have a cigarette.”

Another nurse said the ban had divided staff and caused some desperate patients to hide their cigarettes on the hospital grounds.

Nurses caught giving patients cigarettes were cautioned and could face dismissal after two or three warnings, the nurse said.

Patient Rabecca Channell said she had avoided a physical search by handing her cigarettes in when a Bloomfield staff member asked for them.

She said patients’ rooms had also been searched for cigarettes.

“It just makes it more stressful being here, and the thing is, most mental health patients smoke,” she said.

“I tried to quit three years ago but Quitline advised me not to while my [mental] health was unstable.”

A spokeswoman for the Western NSW Local Health Network said the health service had not received any formal complaints about the smoking policy, but such a complaint would be taken seriously.

“All healthcare consumers and employees have the right to a smoke-free environment,” the spokeswoman said.

“ It is vital to encourage everyone on site to comply with this policy, to ensure smoking does not occur in locations that could pose significant occupational health and safety risks.

“An overwhelming majority have complied with this policy since it was implemented on the 2 November 2010, and the corresponding health benefits are being widely recognised at the Bloomfield Hospital campus.”