Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death in England, with about half of all lifelong smokers dying prematurely, losing on average around 10 years of life. In 2016 alone, there were around 78,000 deaths attributable to smoking, representing 16% of all deaths across the UK. In 2022, the number of smokers decreased to 12.9% (the lowest since records began in 2011 (Annual Population Survey), however, there are currently over 5 million regular smokers in England. With the NHS aiming to be a more powerful driving force in the battle against smoking, ‘Stoptober’ provides an ideal opportunity to engage with smokers and urge them to quit.
What is STOPTOBER?
Stoptober is a national smoking cessation campaign led by Public Health England that encourages smokers to commit to quitting smoking in October. Based around a 28-day programme, Stoptober provides practical support, advice and encouragement to ensure that quitters are not alone and can share the quitting experience. Quitting smoking can drastically improve health as breathing becomes easier, and it also has the benefit of saving money!
Public Health England is calling for the NHS Long-Plan to commit to achieving a smoke-free society by 2030 with an adult prevalence of 5% or less. At EK Interactive we know that our kiosks can help GP practices to aid smoking cessation.
Smoking Cessation in Primary Care:
Research has shown that most GPs tend to question the smoking status of new patients, but fewer routinely ask this of regular patients, even though the majority of smokers see their GP at least once a year. It has also been shown that light smokers are less likely to receive advice to quit from their GP than moderate to heavy smokers. The APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health) has suggested that all smokers are advised to quit at least annually and given opt-out referral to stop smoking services as a matter of course.
How can the kiosk help?
Questions on smoking status can be added to any of our pathways, as can questions asking patients if they would like help to quit. If a patient states that they would like to quit, then our standard advisory message asks them to go to reception for further advice. To make the most of this opportunity to engage with patients on their smoking status we suggest that this message is customised to meet the needs of your practice. For example, you could direct patients to a local stop smoking group or to online resources such as Stoptober. Custom alerts can be sent to the practice so the relevant staff member can follow-up with quit smoking resources. Plus why not look at all the other things we can cover!
QOF collection:
Blood Pressure
Height/Weight/BMI
Alcohol FAST/AUDIT C
Smoking
Asthma
Diabetes
Women’s Health:
Oral Contraception Medication Review
HRT Medication Review
Menopause
Postnatal
Mental Health:
HADS
PHQ9
GAD7
Others:
NHS Health Check
New Patient Health Check
Arthritis Assessment
Any Many More!
If you would like to know more about how our self-screening health kiosk could work in your practice, then we'd be happy to arrange a demo for you - contact us by email on hello@ekinteractive.co.uk or call 01223 812737.