The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has released a major new report regarding smoking cessation support for hospital patients and staff, including allowing vaping on hospital grounds. The RCP believes that hospital patients who smoke are in the ideal environment to ditch the cigarettes with professional support.
The report states that 1 in 4 hospital patients are smokers, costing the NHS £1 billion a year. Alongside other initiatives, the health experts suggest:
“We should allow e-cigarettes to be used on NHS sites to support smokers to remain smoke-free and help to sustain smoke-free policies.”
Currently, hospitals provide their own policy on whether or not to allow vaping on hospital grounds. Some hospitals have designated vaping areas, some simply allow it on their grounds and others ban it.
The smoking policy is equally as incoherent with an increasing number of hospitals being smoke-free but others allowing smoking on their grounds. Furthermore, the enforcement of these hospital bans has been questioned on numerous occasions.
This lack of cohesion between NHS sites has been criticised by anti-smoking campaigners. Experts believe that a blanket policy for all sites would allow for more clarity, resulting in an easier enforcement process and consequently reduced smoking rates.
‘Opt out’ cessation service
The RCP has therefore suggested an ‘opt out’ smoking cessation intervention model. They highlighted the fact that patients are rarely asked if they are smokers and believe that ‘failing to identify and treat smokers is negligent’.
Professor John Britton, chair of the RCP’s Tobacco Advisory Group and lead editor of the report, said:
“Treating the more than one million smokers who are admitted to hospitals every year represents a unique opportunity for the NHS to improve patients’ lives, while also saving money. For too long the NHS has failed to take responsibility for smoking, while prioritising other, less effective activity.
Smoking, the biggest avoidable cause of death and disability in the UK, is hiding in plain sight in our hospitals and other NHS services; the NHS must end the neglect of this huge opportunity to improve our nation’s health.”
Offering support and having adequately trained staff on hand is of course beneficial but will this ‘opt out’ approach be disempowering for smokers? Smokers will generally not want to be told what they can and can’t or should and shouldn’t do. However Information, support and available resource would allow them to make this decision themselves.
The allowance of e-cigarettes on hospital grounds is an important aspect of this. Not only will it provide smokers with an alternative to cigarettes, it will help to send the right message about vaping. A report by Public Health England suggested that vaping supplies should be sold in hospital shops and staff should be trained to give guidance on e-cigarettes.
Will we see the NHS embrace vaping and utilise it to its full potential to help reach their goal of smoke-free sites?