NGO Smokefree Project

Update and News

November 2014

Last Forum

• Would like more:– Personal smokefree journeys

• Both service users and staff

– Organisational smokefree journeys – what has worked?

• More specialist support

• No Butts – more stories welcome!

• Forum programme

• Breakfree smokefree service now operational!

• Providing support to smoking cessation services

• Working with specialist stop smoking practitioners so better support can be provided to mental health and addiction service users

Last Forum• Clarifying the requirements around asking

smoking status during recruitment process

• More information available on medications

• Specialist advice provided via this Forum

• Varenicline paper developed in conjunction with Denise Barlow and circulated• The new MoH Guidelines for Helping People to Stop Smoking have been

promoted to the sector• Provide workshops/presentations on new Guidelines, stop smoking

medications to NGOs upon request.

Testing the Water

How are we going?

Survey Participation By Service Type

Please note the survey was sent to 76 providers within the Northern Region in June 2014.

6%

34%

45%

15%

Service Description of Survey Respondents

Addiction Services OnlyMental Health Services OnlyMental Health and Addic-tion ServicesOther

Service Description Number PercentageAddiction Services Only 4 6%Mental Health Services Only 22 34%Mental Health and Addiction Services 29 45%Other 10 15%Total Respondents 65

Excellent Level of Engagement!

Purpose of Survey

• To gain snapshot of:– Smoking prevalence of service users– Smoking prevalence of staff

• Understanding of key operational issues– How is staff smoking defined– What stop smoking support is being provided to staff?– Is smoking status being factored into the recruitment process?

Please note:• This survey was not developed for research purposes. No attempt was made to

gain a representative sample that matched the profile of service users or staff.• Designed to provide operational ‘snap-shot’ to help inform programme

development• Tried to keep questions to 10 only!

Smoking Prevalence – Service Users

• 41 mental health and addiction organisations surveyed provided this information

• Number of service users that are current smokers - 44% as at June 2013• May be under-reported as “many say they don’t smoke when they do” • Very high compared to population as a whole 15% (NZ Census 2013)• Maori and Pacific providers were included in survey responses• Smoking prevalence by ethnic group not possible as many providers

weren’t able to link smoking prevalence data to ethnicity data– This would be very useful to do, so help to quit smoking can be better tailored

Smoking Prevalence - Staff

• 27 responses - 3 excluded as incorrect • Smoking prevalence rate 22% as at 30 June 2014• Actual rate may be higher - participating providers

may reflect those that are more committed to supporting staff to become smokefree

• Only 5 providers use definition of current smokers available in contract – a current smoker is anyone who has smoked within the past 30 days.– Most simply ask if staff member smokes

How Often Is Staff Smoking Status Assessed?

Contract expectations:“You will ensure that all staff who smoke are routinely offered advice on becoming smokefree and access to appropriate cessation support.”

N= 41 organisations

29%

2%

12%

2%

19%

36%When staff are initially employedAnnuallySix monthlyMonthlyOtherWe do not collect information

Type of Stop Smoking Support Available to Staff

N = 31 organisations

Informati

on such

as poste

rs an

d leafl

ets

Referra

ls to quit s

upport ag

encie

s

In-house beh

avioural

support

to quit smokin

g

Access

to in-house

quitcard

provid

ers

Paying f

or pharm

acy part

-charg

e for N

RT

Subsid

ised or f

ree GP ap

pointmen

ts to disc

uss quit s

moking

Other 0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Asking Smoking Status During Recruitment Process

N=35 organisations

51.0%49.0%YesNo

Opportunities for Development

• Embed practice of asking smoking status, and raising awareness of smokefree policy during staff recruitment phase

• Definition of current smoking consistently defined when assessing smoking status of staff

• Staff to be regularly provided with quit support – at least every 6 months– Reassessment of smoking status

• Ability to cross reference smoking status of staff/service user with ethnicity/gender identity– Better able to tailor support and key messages

Testing the Water

How are we going?

Testing the Water

How are we going?

NGO Smokefree Project

Update and News

November 2014