The Society's involvement in Smoking Cessation has a long history, and we have seen a major new development in the past year with the establishment of the BTS Stop Smoking Champions programme. This is a UK-wide initiative supported by a small project grant by the Department of Health in England. The project is being managed by the Society's Tobacco Specialist Advisory Group, which has now consolidated the work of BASSP- the Association for Stop Smoking Professionals.
To date we have recruited 105 Champions (February 2012). We aim to have one in each Acute Trust in the UK before the end of March. Contact us if you wish to join us - bts@brit-thoracic.org.uk.
A map showing the location of Stop Smoking Champions (February 2012) is available here.
Stop Smoking Champions will:-
- Liaise with Management and Consultant Colleagues to raise the profile of smoking cessation
- Take a lead in developing Hospital Strategy on maintenance of the Smoke Free environment
- Develop a CQUIN for incentivising stop smoking activity in the Trust
- Assess specific hospital requirements and plan appropriately for quit smoking services
- Provideclinical supervision and support to staff involved in referrals or prescription of smoking cessation medication
- Provide education and training to junior doctors and other front-line staff
- Audit outcomes annually.