News. BBC Scotland advised that Scotland's largest health board would allow the use of electronic cigarettes within its hospital grounds. Tobacco smoking was banned in all hospital grounds in Scotland in April 2015, but health boards were given discretion over the use of vaping devices. NHS Lothian was the only one of the 13 health boards at the time to allow restricted use of e-cigarettes. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde [NHS GGC] announced it would also do so after new evidence that e-cigarettes helped to reduce tobacco smoking. NHS GGC's director of public health said: "It is clear from research carried out by Public Health England, ourselves and others, that e-cigarettes do have their place in the fight against tobacco and are being used effectively to help people stop smoking altogether".