Congratulations to the Smokefree Team at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, who have been awarded the ICS monthly shout-out for their work to support patients with mental illness to stop smoking.
The work of the team includes:
- Setting up a smokefree service within inpatient mental health units, utilising a holistic, person centred approach to smoking cessation and harm reduction.
- Designing and facilitating the use of bespoke, educational resources and materials to aid distraction techniques to manage nicotine withdrawal. These have been produced in an easy-read format and other languages and also flash cards for non-verbal patients. The packs have been shared with other mental health trusts nationally.
- Delivering bespoke training sessions to patients, directly on the ward, educating on different types of Nicotine Replacement Therapy, alongside the benefits of a harm reduction approach for patients who are not ready to quit smoking.
- Designing and delivering speciality training modules to 2500 staff working in patient facing areas such as coffee bars and receptionists in GP surgeries.
- Delivering a suite of support and training within the Specialist Services directorate, including Child And Adolescent Mental Health, Mother and Baby and also within the prison service.
The team is an example of best practice nationally and it supports other mental health trusts with the implementation and facilitation of smokefree services, including the writing of their smokefree and vaping policies and procedures.