Kicking Cigarettes in the Butt

April 2010

More Middlemore patients are kicking cigarettes in the butt thanks to the efforts of hospital staff.

Latest figures reveal that 32% of people who smoke and were hospitalised in January, February and March received support to quit, up from 11% in the final three months of last year. Performance peaked in March when staff offered help to 43% of people who smoke, boosting the results for the quarter.

The Ministry of Health target is for 80% of hospital inpatients to be asked if they smoke and, if appropriate, offered brief advice on the benefits of being smokefree, and Nicotine Replacement Therapy or other support to quit by July. This increases to 95% by July 2012.

The Smokefree team congratulate all staff on their contribution to the hospital’s overall increase. Significant gains were seen in the Surgical Wards and Women’s Health, including the Assessment, Labour and Birthing Unit (ALBU); Maternity Ward; Community Maternity Clinics and the Gynaecology Care Unit.

In March, ALBU and the Maternity Ward began incorporating new processes into their existing Smokefree strategy. This, coupled with a focus on training all staff in Smokefree best practise, resulted in them more than doubling their previous month’s support rates.

Smokefree Specialist Michelle Lee, who has been leading the training, acknowledges charge midwives for facilitating staff training at handovers and team meetings, and then helping staff put their new skills into practise.

“Staff have been so enthusiastic. They’ve taken on the training and put it into action for the benefit of pregnant women and their families. More people are actually quitting who wouldn’t have if they hadn’t been asked about their smoking and offered NRT by a midwife.”

Smoking is a major area of concern in Counties Manukau, especially among Maori (46.8% of the population smoke) and Pacific people (30.3%). With over 22% of people in the district lighting up, Counties Manukau exceeds the national average of 20.7%.

Smokefree Programme Manager Ingrid Minett says targeting people while they are in hospital makes sense because they are a “captured audience” and are often more motivated to give quitting a go.

“It’s a way of getting more people exposed and trying products that can help them. We have had patients who have said ‘I never thought I could go this long without a cigarette and feel comfortable’.”

The Smokefree team believes the CMDHB will continue to build on the great result for March and achieve an even higher result for the year’s final quarter in April, May and June. “It would be a huge achievement,” says Ingrid. “There is still a lot of work to do but much of the ground work has been done and the results to date are very promising.”