Zaheera Chatra Stop Smoking Specialist, Leicester City Stop Smoking Service
Abstract
I noticed in primary care referrals from GP practices were significantly lower than from other referrers such as secondary and acute care and pharmacy. I looked at a few reasons why this may be - one of the main causes was the process for referrals. I found that many people were being given the contact details of the stop smoking service in the form of a tear off slip however the numbers making contact with the service had great scope for improvement.
I went on to develop a referral template that is part of the practice system (SystmOne) and can be used by clinicians (or any practice staff) whilst in consultation with patients. This template is appended onto the clinician's toolbar. Referrals are made by the click of the button and come straight through to the stop smoking service email inbox. There is no form filling, faxing or printing of information. The stop smoking service contacts the patient and they are booked into a clinic. This referral system together with GP brief opportunistic training has significantly improved the numbers of people seen by the stop smoking service with GPs commenting how easy the system is to use.
