Devani, Nikesh, Mangera, Zaheer, Smith, Howard, Gates, Jessica, Woodhouse, Arran, Fullerton, Duncan, Ponnuswamy, Aravind 
ORCID: 0000-0001-9901-969X and Evison, Matthew
(2023)
'The dark before the dawn': the 2021 British Thoracic Society Audit of the treatment of tobacco dependency in acute trusts.
BMJ open respiratory research, 10 (1).
e001532-e001532.
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The dark before the dawn the 2021 British Thoracic Society Audit of the treatment of tobacco dependency in acute trusts.pdf - Open Access published version Download (397kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Smoking remains the single largest cause of preventable death, disability and health inequality. Smoking tobacco directly contributes to over 500 000 hospital admissions each year, making hospitals an important location to optimise treatment for tobacco dependency. The third British Thoracic Society Tobacco Dependency Audit was undertaken to determine how effectively national standards for treating tobacco-dependent smokers have been implemented and assess if any progress has been made from previous audits. Data on 14579 patients from 119 hospitals revealed 21% of patients were current smokers, 45% were offered very brief advice and 5% prescribed combination nicotine replacement therapy or varenicline. Only 9% completed a consultation with a specialist tobacco dependency practitioner during their inpatient stay and fewer than 1% of smokers were abstinent at 4 weeks following discharge. Clinical leadership of tobacco dependency services was deficient, and staff were ill equipped in supporting current smokers in their efforts to quit with only 50% of trusts offering regular smoking cessation training. There has been little meaningful improvement from previous audits and there remains woefully inadequate provision of tobacco dependency treatment for patients who smoke. The National Health Service (NHS) Long Term Plan has committed substantial, new funding to the NHS to ensure every patient that smokes admitted to hospital will be offered evidence-based support and treatment for tobacco dependency. The findings of this audit highlight the urgency with which this programme must be implemented to tackle the greatest cause of premature death in the UK and to achieve the wider well-recognised benefits for the healthcare system.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Humans, Tobacco Use Disorder, Smoking, Smoking Cessation, State Medicine, Health Status Disparities, Tobacco Use Cessation Devices |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Life Courses and Medical Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Life Courses and Medical Sciences > School of Medicine |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Dec 2023 09:28 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Mar 2024 20:18 |
| DOI: | 10.1136/bmjresp-2022-001532 |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3177233 |
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