Jamie McAllister said cigarette butts litter the entry to the emergency department despite several “no smoking” signs, and that NSW Health must act.

He has seen the numbers of butts continue to grow at the hospital since his mother was admitted last Thursday and said they were disgusting and gave the hospital a poor image.

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“People should have more consideration; the people who come to the hospital are sick and they shouldn’t have to walk through cigarette butts to get there,” he said. “You can’t sit down on the seats around the hospital entry either because there are cigarette butts everywhere.”

Mr McAllister is a former smoker who gave up the habit because of health concerns.

“I can’t help but go up to someone who is smoking at the hospital and telling them to put it out, but they look at you like ‘who are you?’,” he said.

A Hunter New England Health spokesperson said they were committed to their smoke-free policy, smoke-free environments, support staff and patients to stop smoking, and making sure patients and staff are not exposed to second hand tobacco smoke.

“All staff, patients and visitors to health sites are prohibited from smoking on facility grounds, car parks or in vehicles,” the spokesperson said. “It is the responsibility of every health service staff member to approach smokers [including other staff, patients and visitors] and politely ask them to either put the cigarette out or move off health service grounds if they wish to continue smoking.”

The spokesperson said patients who smoked were supported in the policy and offered free nicotine replacement therapy via patches, lozenges and other measures.

“We ask all patients and visitors to comply with smoke-free policy and respect the rights of all patients, visitors and staff by not smoking at Maitland Hospital,” the spokesperson said.