Services Database Provision of community smoking cessation services (Kirklees Area)

A stop smoking support service in the pharmacy.

An advisor should offer weekly support for at least the first four weeks of a patient‟s quit attempt. The support can be offered by telephone where appropriate.

Follow up at 4 weeks following the quit day should be attempted for all patients.

Patients should either be seen in person or contacted by telephone for follow up. Up to 3 attempts should be made to reach a client by telephone or letter.

In line with good practice, advisors should attempt to confirm the smoking status of patients who self-report a 4 week quit by carbon monoxide monitoring.

The pharmacy contractor must ensure that an advisor offering stop smoking support has received appropriate training for their role and is registered with Locala Stop Smoking Service as an accredited advisor. To offer and implement the Smoking Cessation service personnel need to train to Intermediate Advisor (I.A) status. This is a 2 ½ day course delivered by Locala Stop Smoking Service.

The accredited advisor must attend at least one of the twice-yearly networking/update sessions run by the service to ensure skills and knowledge are kept up to date.