Mayo General Hospital will be a completely smoke free zone from next Wednesday, March 5.
The hospital is introducing its new policy on National No Smoking Day, and banning smoking anywhere on its grounds, including entrances, doorways, walkways, internal roads, car parks and even in parked cars.
The policy will apply to all staff, patients, visitors, contractors and anyone who enters the hospital buildings and grounds.
Mayo General is the latest in a number of hospitals to introduce smoke free campuses, including Galway University Hospital, which went smoke-free in 2012 and Roscommon Hospital, which brought in the ban last month.
The HSE aims to see all hospital campuses smoke-free by 2015.
Manager at the hospital, Charlie Meehan, said the policy may take some time to implement fully but the experience of other hospitals which have introduced smoke-free campuses has been “very positive” and the majority of people are supportive of the idea.
