Smokefree inpatient mental health services
- NHS England recommends that all inpatient mental health units should be ‘smokefree’ by 2018. This is defined as the absence of tobacco smoke, so does not cover e-cigarettes (Public Health England, 2016).
- NICE recommends that people should be informed about smokefree sites before attending hospital and that they should be offered behavioural and pharmacological support to stop smoking if relevant. People with severe mental health conditions should be offered tailored support that is delivered by a specialist with mental health expertise (NICE, 2022b).
- There are a range of benefits associated with smokefree inpatient mental health units:
- One study carried out across four hospitals found that over 2 hours a day of clinical time in inpatient wards was spent facilitating smoking breaks, with a cost of between £18,250 to £86,870 per ward each year (Robson et al., 2016).
- A 2010 audit found that 96% of managers whose services had become smokefree indoors believed that this policy had positive impacts on staff, patients and services, and led to improvements in quality of care (Public Health England, 2016).
In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT):
- Inpatient services became smokefree in 2017, but over the COVID-19 pandemic some wards allowed patients to smoke in the gardens.
- The aim is that CPFT sites will become completely smokefree again by the 1st April 2024.
- There is a Tobacco Dependency Service (staffed by a Tobacco Dependency Lead and two part time Band 4 nurses) offering smoking cessation support for inpatients in CPFT services.
Additional resources
- Action on smoking and health’s articles on smokefree mental health services and resources to support practice
- Smokefree mental health services in England: Implementation document for providers of mental health services
References
Full list of references is included at the end of this chapter.