Debbie Robson Senior Post Doc Researcher in Tobacco Addiction, National Addiction Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London
Abstract
The NICE Guidelines for smoking cessation in secondary care (NICE, 2013) recommend mental health services in the UK implement comprehensive smoke free policies that includes hospital grounds. They also recommend developing care pathways for the management of temporary abstinence and smoking cessation and provision of evidence based training for staff. A year and a half after the publication of the guidelines, Implementation is rare and there is much to do to change the hearts and minds of the mental health community.
The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, implemented a comprehensive smoke free policy on October 1st 2014 (the second mental health Trust in the UK to do so). This presentation will give an overview of progress to date.
A programme of collaboration began early 2014 between tobacco researchers, managerial and clinical staff included staff engagement exercises, the development of new policies, changes to the IT infrastructure including mandatory smoking assessment, the co-production of tobacco dependence treatment for temporary abstinence and smoking cessation, the creation of a new hospital tobacco dependence treatment service and staff education and training. An evaluation framework was implemented.
The presentation will provide an overview of the development and pilot evaluation of the introduction of: 1) a comprehensive smoke free policy; 2) a mental health tobacco dependence treatment pathway; and 3) a training pathway for mental health staff. Data on the direct (e.g smoking cessation referrals) and indirect (e.g. violent incidents, absconding, and fire incidents) effects before and after implementation will also be presented.
Source of funding: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
