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NHS Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT)
Oliver Smith, Deputy Director, Tobacco and Health & Wellbeing Policy, Department of Health, London, UK
Launch of NCSCT at the 2009 UK National Smoking Cessation Conference (UKNSCC)
The Department of Health was pleased to have secured funding to establish and develop the NHS Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT). The overall aims of the NCSCT will be to develop and deliver an NHS accredited training system for Stop Smoking Practitioners. This will include:
- Developing an increasingly professional, competent and confident smoking cessation workforce with identifiable career progression paths linked to continual professional development
- Achieving progress towards the Public Service Agreement (PSA) smoking cessation target for routine and manual groups
- World Class commissioning of smoking cessation services, particularly with commissioning on the basis of outcomes and service quality
The Minister for Public Health was delighted to announce on 30th March 2009 that the contract to run the NCSCT had been awarded to a consortium led by University College London (UCL) that includes NHS Leeds and the charity Quit. Since this announcement the team at UCL have been busy establishing the NCSCT and in May appointed Nicky Willis, formerly of the DH, as Chief Executive – our loss is their gain. More details of the NCSCT’s activities to date and future plans can be found on its website: www.ncsct.co.uk
It is a pleasure to be able to officially launch the NCSCT to the field at the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference. This will be the first of many engagements between the NCSCT and the field as I know that they have a strategy to communicate, consult and collaborate widely. I wish the NCSCT every success over the coming years and know that with the support of the smoking cessation community it will achieve its aims.
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