National survey of the new smoking cessation services in England

Abstract

Objective To examine the early implementation of the new National Health Service (NHS) smoking cessation services and assess implications for their future. Design Quantitative study. Setting NHS smoking cessation services in England, spring 2001. Method Postal survey of all smoking cessation coordinators (managers) in England. Results The response rate was 69 per cent. Three quarters of the coordinators reported that no prior smoking cessation services had existed in their area, 42 per cent had no experience of running clinical services for patients, and one in five reported employing very few or no smoking cessation advisors with previous clinical experience in smoking cessation or any other field. Some coordinators were experiencing difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff, the most common reasons being short-term funding or the lack of appropriate experience. Nevertheless, almost 60 per cent of the coordinators reported that the smoking cessation services were working at full capacity at the time of the survey. Services were offering a range of smoking cessation interventions that were mostly in line with the evidence base. Conclusion Evidence based smoking cessation services were set up across England within a short period of time. The majority of staff employed initially had little or no previous experience relevant to their posts and large numbers have been trained in smoking cessation skills. As ring- fenced funding of smoking cessation services came to an end in March 2003, it is important not to lose this substantive investment in skills and infrastructure and ensure that the services are incorporated into mainstream funding, with a proper career structure for smoking cessation service staff.