NEWS
Leading doctors
say patients should
be allowed to vape
in hospitals
Quit rates could double if vaping was
permitted on site, researchers estimate.
By ROISIN Delaney
A recent report on how the National Health Service treats
smoking addiction calls for e-cigarettes to be permitted in
NHS hospitals.
According to the report from the Royal College of Physicians
(RCP), smoking cessation services should be an “opt-out”
element of a smoker’s healthcare plan.
Researchers estimate that implementing such a move could
double quit rates.
Professor John Britton is chair of the RCP’s Tobacco Advisory
Group and lead editor of the report. He 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.”
The report also calls for new legislation requiring NHS hospitals to
implement completely smoke-free grounds, because adherence
to current guidance is “patchy” across the UK.
While some hospitals, like Ipswich, Colchester and Essex, have
enforced on-site smoking bans and introduced designated vaping
areas, many hospitals are yet to make progress on the public
health issue.
20 | VM18
The RCP has also called for all healthcare training to include
information on smoking cessation. This comes following research
by Action on Smoking Health (ASH) UK, which shows the extent
of the damage which smoking is having on public health in the
south west of England.
The region spends more than £120 million every year on smoking,
a number which ASH says encompasses the cost to businesses
and healthcare. A 2016 audit reported that one in four hospital
patients in Cornwall were not asked if they smoked, while half of
frontline hospital staff were not trained in smoking cessation.
In England, the responsibility for stop smoking services has
shifted from a national level to a local authority level in recent
years and funding has fallen “dramatically” as a result, according
to the RCP.
Professor Britton added that cessation services need to be more
of a priority across the UK, saying: “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.”
Meanwhile, chief executive of Public Health England Duncan
Selbie reacted to the report in agreement with its findings, saying:
“We fully support the Royal College in saying by far the majority of
the NHS could be doing more to help smokers to quit.”