Smoking Cessation Service

Attempting to stop smoking is one of the best decisions you can make for your own health and your finances. 

The Countess of Chester Hospital’s innovative new Tobacco Dependency Treatment Service can help ensure anyone who smokes tobacco gets the right support and assistance, to ensure their withdrawal symptoms are managed and controlled effectively.  

The service, launched in November, aims to ease patients’ nicotine withdrawal symptoms and enable them to be more comfortable whilst they are an inpatient, providing them with a valuable opportunity to make a serious quit attempt to stop smoking.

They will be offered expert advice from a skilled team who can help them make a plan to quit and provide them with continued support through their journey up until they are 12 weeks smoke free.

Tobacco Treatment Specialist Nurse Rachel Wright and Tobacco Treatment Advisor Tim Quick comprise the tobacco dependency team with Avarind Ponnuswamy offering support as the services clinical lead.

Explaining more about the process for patients using the service, Rachel said: “When a patient is admitted to hospital, and identified as a smoker, they should be started on nicotine replacement therapy. This reduces withdrawal symptoms prior to a visit from a member of the tobacco dependency team who educate and advise on the benefits of quitting smoking.”

“If a patient still wants to continue smoking, they will be provided with information for their local stop smoking service for future reference,” she explained.  

“With the information and advice available, we hope patients will decide to take the opportunity toward a serious quit attempt. Patients are given an individualised quit plan that combines one-to-one support up to 12 weeks smoke free,” added Rachel.

After the patient is discharged from hospital, the tobacco dependency team will then make contact with them and organise nicotine products to be provided from a community service.

Rachel said: “We are thrilled to be providing support to our patients to aid them in overcoming their addiction and improving their lives.

“We understand that overcoming an addiction to tobacco can be difficult but believe that our service will be able to benefit many people, and we are excited to help create positive change in this way.”

Rachel Wright and Tim Quick can be contacted via - coch.smokefree@nhs.net

Published 13/03/2024