Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT) has signed the NHS Smokefree Pledge, reinforcing its commitment to creating a healthier, smoke-free environment for patients, staff, and the wider community.
The announcement comes during Stoptober, the national 28-day stop smoking challenge, which encourages smokers across the UK to quit for good.
Over 5 million adults in England still smoke. Smoking is the single biggest behavioural cause of preventable illness and death in England. Every year nearly 75,000 people in the UK die from smoking, with many more living with debilitating smoking-related illnesses.
Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS and social care £3 billion per year, resources that could be freed up to deliver millions more appointments, scans, and operations.
The NHS Smokefree Pledge, which was signed by HDFT’s Chief Executive Jonathan Coulter, Chair Sarah Armstrong, and Executive Medical Director Dr Jacqueline Andrews, is a clear and visible way for NHS organisations to show their commitment to helping smokers quit and create smokefree environments that support them to do so.
The pledge aligns with the Government’s ambition for England to be smokefree by 2030 and supports the NHS Long Term Plan’s focus on tobacco dependence treatment.
As part of its commitment, the Trust will:
- Treat tobacco dependency among patients and staff who smoke in line with commitments in the NHS Long Term Plan and Tobacco Control Plan for England
- Ensure that smokers within the NHS have access to the medication they need to quit in line with NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidance on smoking in secondary care
- Create environments that support quitting through implementing smokefree policies as recommended by NICE
- Deliver consistent messages about harms from smoking and the opportunities and support available to quit in line with NICE guidance
- Actively work with local authorities and other stakeholders to reduce smoking prevalence and health inequalities
- Protect tobacco control work from the commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry
- Support Government action at national level
- Publicise this commitment to reducing smoking in our communities and join the Smokefree Action Coalition (SFAC), the alliance of organisations working to reduce the harm caused by tobacco
Smokers who get the right expert support and stop smoking aids are three times more likely successfully to quit smoking than through willpower alone. The Trust has already introduced an in-house smoking cessation service, which inpatients who are smokers are referred to on admission and where advice and support is offered to help the patient stop smoking.
In line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance to reduce smoking, the Trust is now allowing patients and visitors to use electronic cigarettes (vapes) in some outdoor areas on Trust premises. This is to encourage patient and visitors who smoke to ‘swap to stop’.
Jonathan Coulter said: “Signing the Smokefree Pledge during Stoptober is a powerful statement of our dedication to improving public health. We are committed to supporting patients and staff in their journey to quit smoking and to ensuring our facilities promote wellbeing and recovery.”
Dr Jacqueline Andrews said: “We know how hard it can be for people to quit smoking, but doing so is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your health.
“Stopping smoking can have immediate and long-term health benefits and enhance the quality of life. For someone in our care, being smokefree during a hospital stay can help them to heal and recover faster.
“The Smokefree Pledge is but one element of our smoking cessation activities designed to encourage people to kick the habit and lead a healthier life.”
The Trust encourages anyone considering quitting to take advantage of the resources available through the NHS and local stop smoking services.
For more information on quitting smoking and the Smokefree Pledge, visit www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking or ASH Smokefree Pledge