Smokers have forced hospital chiefs to consider building a shelter so they can light up out of view from other staff and patients.

Medway Maritime Hospital is bidding for planning permission to construct a smokers’ cover in the hospital grounds.

The entrances to the Gillingham hospital are regularly surrounded by patients, staff and visitors smoking in all weather conditions.

A spokesman for Medway NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said: “There is no stopping people around the entrances.

“We are trying to make it as pleasant as possible. It is not when you have to pass smokers.”

But two Medway Council health committee members were dismayed by the news.

Cllr Julie Shaw (Lab) said: “I would be desperately unhappy if the maritime trust was encouraging people to smoke on their premises. It would be a retrograde step.”

Cllr Sheila Kearney (Lib) said: “I would like to see people give up, but if not I would prefer it in one place – out of sight.”

The hospital banned smoking in July 2006 – nine months before the law stopped smoking in public places.

A man smoking outside the A&E department said: “It’s a good idea if the shelters are near enough. After all, there is no way of stopping it. It is so acute at the hospital they no longer try to stop you.”

But Christine Morgan from Sittingbourne and fresh from surgery, said: “It is not right. This is a hospital, there are health issues to consider. After all, they keep you on a waiting list if you are a smoker.”

One hospital employee said it had lost the battle against smokers: “Just look at the ground around here – it’s covered in dog-ends.”

Medway has the worst smoking figures in the South East. Top of the league is Gillingham, where more than 36 per cent of residents smoke.