We provided support to the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, enabling them to become an early adopter of the NHS smoking cessation service and contribute efficiently towards the prevention goals outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Background
The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust required support with the new national NHS smoking cessation service. NHS Midlands and Lancashire (NHS ML) facilitated the service’s implementation and provided support throughout.

Action

We analysed the trust’s current resources and worked with various teams to establish working groups, agree on a referral pathway, and engage with community pharmacies.

Impact

• We interpreted and applied all the necessary guidance from NHS England.

• We worked with pharmacy, IT, tobacco dependency, respiratory and other teams to highlight and work through technical and logistical issues.

• We worked with the trust and other stakeholders to set up a referral pathway and worked out how data and referrals will be exchanged throughout the stages of the service.

• We supported the local pharmaceutical committee with engagement events to ensure abundant local uptake of the service and that there was sufficient geographical coverage.

• Our support allowed the trust to become one of the early implementors of the NHS smoking cessation service.

• The trust is now set up to digitally refer patients being discharged from secondary care for ongoing smoking cessation support via their chosen community pharmacies.

• The guidance we provided helped establish a digital referral pathway allowing for referrals to be quickly sent electronically and then received back to the trust upon completion of the patient pathway in a timely manner.

• Our support helped the trust to efficiently deliver and contribute to the prevention ambitions as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.

• In a similar pilot in Oldham, we worked together with Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership to transfer smoking cessation care from hospital to community pharmacy. The project was shortlisted as a finalist in the HSJ Awards 2022 and highly commended in the Health Business Awards 2022. It has since been rolled out in pharmacies across England. 

Testimonial

“NHS ML has been an outstanding partner to work with setting up our ‘Community Pharmacy pathway for smoking cessation’ in Leicester.”

“The team have all the key qualities to get a new pathway up and running including being key members of our task and finish group, being responsive to queries, problem solving, working effectively with other stakeholders and generally being friendly, respectful and having a ‘can do’ approach.

“In addition, sharing their knowledge and experience working with other stakeholders across the country has been pivotal in getting our local pathway up and running in record time..”

Professor Sanjay Agrawal – Consultant in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine | University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL), National Clinical Advisor for Tobacco Dependency | NHS England, Chair |
Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Tobacco Advisory Group