Smoking cessation

The Role Of Varenicline In Smoking Cessation

Varenicline (Champix) is the newest, prescription-only oral drug we have to treat patients with today’s most important preventable health risk – smoking. With the 1st July deadline for no smoking in public places, there is more reason than ever for people to quit. NICE has recommended use of varenicline by the NHS in recent draft guidance, alongside counselling and support. In this article, we review how the drug fits into our strategies for helping our patients to stop smoking.

Stub it out: Optimising Smoking Cessation

Smoking will be banned in public places in England and Wales next year, in line with bans already in place in Scotland and Ireland. PCTs are likely to experience an increase in demand from smokers accessing services to help them quit. It is estimated that there will be around a 50% increase over normal demand from three months before the date of implementation, with the government predicting that around 600,000 people will decide to quit as a result of the legislation. The seasonal nature of stop smoking attempts means that the period between January and April is already a very busy time. This article reviews what practices can do to ensure they are well prepared.

Talking to Practices

Rosemary Evans, practice nurse at a Docklands practice, London, talks to BJPCN about why and how she set up her smoking cessation service

Tackling the burning issue of smoking cessation

The number of people who smoke has fallen over the past 30 years under a barrage of tobacco control measures, including increasing the price of cigarettes, advertising bans, and health education campaigns. But, one in four premature deaths in the UK (adults aged 35–65 years) are still caused by smoking, and a study published recently warned that today’s smokers puff their way through more cigarettes and start at an earlier age than smokers of fifty years ago. This means that, on average, men who smoke now die ten years earlier than men who don’t smoke. Can primary care make an impact on this ongoing problem? The good news is yes – and the new GMS contract is finally offering us incentives to include smoking in our health promotion activities. In this article, we give you the ammunition to put smoking cessation on your agenda – with the health and economic reasons why it makes sense to help patients quit. Practice nurse Rosemary Evans then explains how she does it in her Docklands practice.

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