Workplace interventions to promote smoking cessation

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Workplace interventions to promote smoking
cessation
Implementing NICE guidance
April 2007
NICE public health intervention guidance 5
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Changing practice

• This guidance is for employers and NHS and
  non-NHS professionals who have a role in
  supporting smokers to give up
• NICE public health guidance is based on the best
  available evidence
• The Department of Health asks NHS organisations
  to work towards implementing public health
  guidance
• NHS compliance with developmental standards will
  be monitored by the Healthcare Commission

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What this presentation covers

• Why implement this guidance?
• Smokefree legislation
• Proven interventions
• Recommendations
• The business case
• Further information and support

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Why implement this guidance?

• Smoking is the main cause of preventable illness
  and premature death in England
• Smoking causes a wide range of diseases and
  conditions
• Breathing secondhand smoke (passive smoking) can
  affect the health of non-smokers
• Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS in England
  up to 1.5 billion a year

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Why implement this guidance?

• From 1 July all employers in England will be
  required by law to provide smokefree workplaces
• It will be an offence to smoke or knowingly
  permit smoking in smokefree workplaces and in
  vehicles used for business
• Failure to comply with the law will be an
  offence

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Benefits for employers

• Reduced sicknessabsence
• Increased productivity
• Improved employee health
• Increased compliance with smokefree legislation

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Effective interventions

• Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and bupropion
• Individual behavioural counselling
• Group behaviour therapy programmes

• Self-help materials
• Brief advice
• Telephone counselling and quitlines

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Effective interventions

• Pharmacotherapies NRT and bupropion
• Individual behavioural counselling with a trained
  smoking cessation counsellor
• Group behaviour therapy at least two group
  meetings offering information and support plus a
  behavioural intervention

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Effective interventions

• Brief interventions opportunistic advice and
  support offered in 5-10 minutes
• Self-help materials
• Telephone counselling and quitlines

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Recommendations

• The guidance is for
• employers
• employees and their representatives
• stop smoking services
• strategic health authorities and primary care
  trusts

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What should employers do?

• Make information on local stop smoking support
  widely available
• Offer to help employees who smoke to quit. Be
  responsive to individual needs and preferences
• Where possible, provide on-site stop smoking
  support
• Work with staff and their representatives to
  develop a smoking cessation policy

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What can employees do?

• Contact local stop smoking services for
  information, advice and support
• Encourage employers to provide advice, guidance
  and support to help employees who want to stop
  smoking

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What should stop smoking services do?

• Ensure staff receive training that complies with
  the Standard for training in smoking cessation
  treatments
• Offer employees one or more of the interventions
  identified to be effective
• Tailor services to employees needs and
  preferences
• Offer locations and schedules to suit the
  individual

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What should NHS Stop Smoking Services managers
do?

• Where feasible, offer support on the employers
  premises
• Prioritise small and medium-sized enterprises
  (SMEs) where demand exceeds resources available
• Target enterprises where a high proportion of
  employees are
• - on low pay
• - from a disadvantaged background
• - heavy smokers

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What should SHAs and PCTs do?

• Ensure that NHS Stop Smoking Services have the
  resources to respond to fluctuations in demand

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The business case

• 72 of smokers want to quit
• A non-smoking working environment encourages
  people to quit
• Loss of productivity of 33 hours per year per
  smoker
• Use the NICE business case and other costing
  tools to help identify costs and savings

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Access the guidance online

• You can download the following documents from
  www.nice.org.uk/PHI005
• A quick reference guide for professionals and the
  public
• The guidance, which includes all the
  recommendations, details of how they were
  developed and evidence statements

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Access tools online

• For employers
• Business case costs and savings related to
  smoking cessation activities
• Information sheet on the benefits of implementing
  NICE guidance
• For the NHS
• Audit criteria
• Implementation advice
• Available from www.nice.org.uk/PHI005