NICE Guidance on smoking cessation in mental health settings

Royal College of Psychiatry International Congress.

Professor Mike Kelly, Director of the Centre for Public Health, NICE and the Institute of Public Health, University of

Cambridge.

NICE

The National Institute for Health and

Care Excellence (NICE) is the

independent organisation in the UK

responsible for providing national

guidance to the NHS, local

authorities and the wider public

health community on the promotion

of good health and the prevention

and treatment of ill health.

The pillars of our work

• Comprehensive evidence

base

• Expert input

• Patient and carer involvement

and community engagement.

• Independent advisory

committees

• Lengthy consultation

• Regular review

• Open and transparent

process.

• Smoking cessation in secondary care:

acute, maternity and mental health

services PH48

• http://guidance.nice.org.uk/PH48/Guidanc

e/pdf/English

What the guidance was not:

• About banning smoking;

• About disciplining staff;

• About punishing relatives.

It is about

• Providing support and help for people

addicted to nicotine deal with their

addiction while in hospital.

Background.

• Smoking prevalence is particularly high among people

with mental health problems, and has changed little in

this group in the past 20 years.

• Most of the reduction in life expectancy among people

with serious mental illness is attributable to smoking.

• Treating smoking-related illnesses in people with mental

health problems costs the NHS £720 million a year.

• Smoking increases psychotropic drug costs in the UK by

up to £40 million.

• 33% of people with mental health problems and 70% of

people in psychiatric units smoke tobacco.

• Smoking is common among young people with mental

health problems.

• Young people aged 11–16 years with an emotional,

hyperkinetic or conduct disorder were much more likely

to be smokers (19%, 15% and 30% respectively) than

other young people (6%)

• People with mental health problems are just as likely to

want to stop as the general population – and are able to

stop when offered evidence-based support.

• Effective stop smoking treatment is not always offered.

• There is a lack of support for smoke free policies among healthcare

staff working in mental health.

• Staff report lacking specific knowledge about the influence of

smoking – and cessation activities – on a person’s mental health.

• Some physicians unaware that the dosage of some antipsychotic

medications may need to be reduced when a person stops smoking

.

Principles.

• Secondary care providers have a duty of care to protect

the health of, and promote healthy behaviour among,

people who use, or work in, their services.

• This duty of care includes providing them with effective

support to stop smoking or to abstain from smoking while

using or working in secondary care services.

• The guidance aimed to support smoking cessation,

temporary abstinence from smoking and smoke free

policies in all secondary care settings.

Main recommendations.

• There must be strong leadership and management to

ensure secondary care premises (including grounds,

vehicles and other settings involved in delivery of

secondary care services) remain smoke free and to help

to promote non-smoking as the norm for people using

these services.

• All hospitals should have an on-site stop smoking

service.

• People who smoke should be offered support at the first

opportunity, be advised to stop, provided with

pharmacotherapy and intensive behavioural support.

• Providing intensive behavioural support and

pharmacotherapy should be an integral component of

secondary care.

• Continuity of care should be the goal on into the

community.

• Staff should be trained to support people to stop

smoking while using secondary care services.

• Staff should be supported to themselves stop smoking or

to abstain while at work.

• There should be no designated smoking areas, no

exceptions for particular groups, and no staff-supervised

or staff-facilitated smoking breaks for people using

secondary care services.

Who is this guidance for?

• The guidance is for: commissioners, clinical leads in

secondary care services, health and social care

practitioners, leaders of the local health and care

system, managers of clinical services, estate managers

and other managers, trust boards, and other staff with

any aspect of secondary care or public health as part of

their remit.

Recommendation 3 Provide

intensive support for people

using acute and mental health

services

• Discuss current and past smoking behaviour and

develop a personal stop smoking plan as part of a review

of patients’ health and wellbeing.

• Provide information about the different types of stop

smoking pharmacotherapies and how to use them.

• Provide information about the types of intensive

behavioural support available.

• Offer and arrange or supply prescriptions of stop

smoking pharmacotherapies.

• For anyone who does not want, is not ready or is unable

to stop completely, encourage the use of licensed

nicotine-containing products to help them abstain and

provide intensive behavioural support to maintain

abstinence from smoking while in secondary care.

• Offer, and if they agree, use measurements of exhaled

carbon monoxide during each contact, to motivate and

provide feedback on progress.

• Alert the person’s healthcare providers and prescribers

to changes in smoking behaviour because other drug

doses may need adjusting

• In addition, for people admitted to a secondary care

setting:

– Provide immediate support if necessary, and

otherwise within 24 hours of admission.

– Provide support (delivered in the setting) as often and

for as long as needed during admission.

– Offer weekly sessions, preferably face-to-face, for a

minimum of 4 weeks after discharge. If it is not

possible to provide this support after discharge,

arrange a referral to a local stop smoking service.

• In addition, for people receiving secondary care services

in the community or at outpatient clinics :

– Provide immediate support in the outpatient setting.

– Offer weekly sessions, preferably face-to-face, for a

minimum of 4 weeks after the date they stopped

smoking. Arrange a referral to a local stop smoking

service, if preferred by the person.

• Ensure people who use drugs that are affected by

smoking (or stopping smoking) are monitored, and the

dosage adjusted if appropriate. Drugs that are affected

include clozapine, olanzapine, theophylline and warfarin.

Conclusions

• Key health inequalities and social justice

issue.

• Evidence of successes.

• Opposition from professionals and

managers.

• A worthy aspiration.