Pharmacists should know whether people smoke
All health professionals should know the smoking habits of all their patients, new Scottish health guidelines say.
The guidelines, intended to help pharmacists and other health professionals
encourage people to stop smoking, have been published a week before the
end of public consultation by the Scottish Executive on how to increase
smoke free zones. The guidelines have been produced jointly by NHS Health
Scotland and the anti-smoking lobby group ASH (Action on Smoking and
Health).
They recommend that all health professionals should have details of the
smoking status of their patients and that smokers who want to quit should
be encouraged to use specialist services which offer counselling and
nicotine replacement therapy.
Smoking cessation services should also be provided, where practical,
in non-NHS settings like the workplace while services for patients in
hospital who smoke, especially those who are pregnant, should have access
to clinics at a time and a place which suits them.
Launching the guidelines Scotland’s deputy minister for health
Tom McCabe said: “Helping a smoker quit is probably the greatest
one thing that you can do for that person to help improve their health.
“Reducing smoking prevalence is the key to improving people’s
health and to reducing health inequalities.”
He said that the guidelines provide the foundation for smoking cessation
services in Scotland for the next three years. “It is essential
reading for all involved in the planning, commissioning and delivery
of specialist smoking cessation services, as well as health and related
professionals who come into contact with smokers during the course of
their daily work.”
Sally Haw, research specialist in substance misuse at NHS Health Scotland,
said that all health professionals have a responsibility to help smokers
quit and to raise the issue with them. She said: “It only takes
a few minutes and will save lives.”
The Scottish Executive has doubled its budget for smoking cessation services
to £7m a year from next year in an attempt to save the 13,000 lives
lost annually in Scotland because of smoking-related disease. Smoking
is estimated to cost the NHS in Scotland £200m every year. Public
consultation on Scotland’s smoke free zone policy ends on 30 October
with final recommendations due by the end of the year.
The UK Government’s White Paper on public health, due to be published
this autumn, is widely expected to recommend a ban on smoking in public
places.
The new Scottish guidelines are available here |
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