NHS Tobacco Dependency Treatment Programmes
- Focused on implementation & delivery of NHS Long Term Plan smoking cessation ambitions. There are three current workstreams underway with the Tobacco Programme.
Onsite Tobacco Dependency Treatment Services
The NENC Treating Tobacco Dependency Taskforce is overseeing the roll-out of the NHS Tobacco Dependency Treatment Service across all ten Foundation Trusts in the NENC Integrated Care System (ICS). This will ensure by 2023/24 all people admitted to hospital that smoke, including pregnant smokers in the maternity pathway, will be offered NHS funded tobacco treatment services and specialist support from dedicated Tobacco Dependency Advisers. You can find out more about the NHS Long Term Plan.
Staff Tobacco Dependency Offer
The NENC is currently rolling out a staff tobacco dependency offer available to all NHS staff working who smoke and work in NHS Foundation Trusts.
Staff are able to access
- Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT),
- an e-cigarette / vape and
- 12 week specialist behavioural support free of charge through local arrangements in place.
This programme is backed by research which shows that providing cessation support for staff is an important way to shift culture and increase support for the treating tobacco dependency agenda. It also will improve the health of the NHS workforce and reduce pressures in the system. To find out more you can email caitlin.barry1@nhs.net
Severe Mental Illness (SMI) Primary care model Pilot as an Early Implementer Site (EIS)
The NENC ICS has been selected to ‘stress-test’ a primary care model of stop smoking support for those with severe mental illness (SMI), ahead of national roll-out from 2023/24. The region has chosen 4 pilot sites to trial the primary care model. These areas are
- Northumberland
- South Tyneside
- Durham (Chester Le Street)
- Middlesbrough
The findings from the EIS pilot sites will inform the wider roll out.
- Focused on driving and supporting sustained, system-wide treatment of tobacco dependency in the North East & North Cumbria in partnership with Local Authority Tobacco Commissioners & Public Health teams
- Focused on actively working towards the regional vision in North East & North Cumbria for every smoker to make at least one significant quit attempt per year, with Tobacco dependency being discussed by every Health Care Professional they come into contact with.
Increasing the role of Primary Care & VCSE in Prevention
- Focused on the role that NHS primary care can play in prevention to and work with wider VCSE organisations to improve health outcomes for our populations.
Smokefree 2030 Vision
- Focused on providing leadership via the Smokefree NHS/Treating Tobacco Dependency Taskforce & through the ICS Prevention Board where tobacco is a key priority and continuing to progress towards the commitment of Smokefree NENC by 2030 ambition.
- Supporting wider comprehensive tobacco control strategies as key area of focus to reduce adult smoking prevalence and narrow health inequalities working with regional & national partners such as FRESH, Office of Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID), Northern Cancer Alliance, ASH and Cancer Research UK.
Contact details for NHS in-trust tobacco dependency treatment services:
LA SSS Services
OHID Fingertips: Includes data on a arrange of health & wellbeing themes - fingertips
NHS Digital : Includes statistics on various metrics including stop smoking services outcomes, smoking at time of delivery– NHS Digital SSS Data
OHID tobacco dashboard: Brings together data from Fingertips and NHS digital to provide an easy to understand, visual overview of tobacco data Dashboard link here
Very Brief Advice: This is for all clinical and non-clinical staff.
- ASK – all patients if they smoke
- ADVISE – the best way to stop
- ACT – provide a referral or offer behavioural support and drug treatment
Available from ELearning for health or direct NCSCT e-learning
NCSCT Smoking Cessation Practitioner Training
The NCSCT Training and Assessment Programme includes all of the core competences (knowledge and skills) needed by stop smoking practitioners in England to help smokers to quit. There are modules designed specifically to support those working in the maternity and mental health pathways. Healthcare practitioners can also access topic-specific modules on NRT, vaping and second-hand smoke https://elearning.ncsct.co.uk/england
NENC Regional Training Days
Local face to face training delivered by iPiP has been made available to tobacco dependency advisors in 2022/23, in line with recruitment progress made by Trusts.
Further training opportunities will be made available by the TTD Taskforce on an ongoing basis. For details, contact tiffany.ghee@nhs.net
Implementation Plans
The NENC ICS Implementation Plan for the LTP Tobacco Dependency Treatment Services sets out the scope, governance and delivery aims of this work. For information about local trust plans please contact the tobacco dependency team in the named Trust.
Pathways
Visual representations of the three Tobacco Dependency Treatment pathways can be found below:
Toolkits
The NENC Tobacco Dependency Treatment Service Communications Toolkit includes information for promoting the service across Trusts, including smoking facts and figures, key messages for staff and patients and template articles.
Information and a communications toolkit for the Staff Tobacco Dependency Offer can be found here.
Briefings
SMI briefing
- A short briefing outlining the current SMI smoking cessation pilot can be found here.
ADPH Vaping Position Statement here.
Taskforce Vaping Standard ( coming soon)
Taskforce briefings
The regional Smokefree NHS/Treating Tobacco Dependency Taskforce produces a quarterly briefing. To be added to the circulation list, email susan.swindon@fresh-balance.co.uk. The latest Smokefree NHS / Treating Tobacco Taskforce briefing can be found here.
Combination NRT Effectiveness Briefing
The NCSCT have published an updated briefing paper summarizing the latest evidence and related practice guidance on the effectiveness of combination NRT.
OHID e-cigarette review here
Making Conversations Count for All (full report and exec summary) : This examines the impact of improving GP delivery of smoking cessation interventions across socioeconomic groups, over a 20 year period.
- An independent review of Smokefree 2030 policies, which sets out bold ambitions over the next two decades to make smoking obsolete.
Community Pharmacy Smoking Cessation Services
The recording and slides from a recent webinar which provided an overview of the community pharmacy smoking cessation service can be found here.
Smokefree Pledge
“The Pledge is designed to be a clear and visible way for NHS organisations to show their commitment to helping smokers to quit and to providing smokefree environments which support them.” Sign up here -The NHS Smokefree Pledge - ASH
