TY - JOUR T1 - Smoking policies in hospitals before the non-smoker protection law in Germany JF - Tobacco Control JO - Tob Control SP - 431 LP - 432 DO - 10.1136/tc.2008.025189 VL - 17 IS - 6 AU - J R Thyrian AU - A Bandelin AU - U John Y1 - 2008/12/01 UR - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/17/6/431.abstract N2 - There are considerable differences in tobacco control activities across European countries, with Germany having been among the least active in the past.1–3 Recent surveys however have found that the majority of European citizens are in favour of smoke-free regulations.4 Hospitals have been identified as an important place to implement non-smoker protection and to provide support for smokers to quit. The World Health Organization has initiated the European Network for Smoke-Free Hospitals (ENSH), a European partnership of 20 members currently, including Germany. The ENSH has developed a self-audit questionnaire, which is a an audit tool for the implementation of a smoke-free hospital.5 Over the past six years the tool has been developed to meet the requirements of all ENSH member countries and is currently available in 12 European languages.5 ENSH has developed a web version of the tool, which allows the smoke-free policy of any hospital to be audited online in English, German or French and where the questionnaire is provided in detail (http://www.hopitalsanstabac.org/questionnaire/open.php … ER -