{"id":57546,"date":"2015-06-04T05:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T05:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=408dee5732d6bb67de43cd99a2a61be9"},"modified":"2015-06-04T05:00:21","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T05:00:21","slug":"press-release-reducing-high-smoking-rates-among-patients-in-mental-health-units","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=57546","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Reducing high smoking rates among patients in mental health units"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>New figures from Public Health England (<abbr title=\"Public Health England\">PHE<\/abbr>) and NHS England shine fresh light on the high smoking rates among people living with mental health problems.<\/p>\n<p>Nationally <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.natcen.ac.uk\/media\/21994\/smoking-mental-health.pdf\">33% of people with a mental health problem smoke<\/a> compared to <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ons.gov.uk\/ons\/rel\/integrated-household-survey\/integrated-household-survey\/january-to-december-2013\/index.html\">18.7% in the population as a whole<\/a>. A <abbr title=\"Public Health England\">PHE<\/abbr> and NHS England survey found that smoking rates among service users in mental health units is even higher at 64%. High smoking rates among people with mental health problems are the single largest contributor to their 10 to 20-year reduced life expectancy.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Public Health England\">PHE<\/abbr> and NHS England have today published <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/smoking-cessation-in-secondary-care-mental-health-settings\">new guidance to help medium and low secure mental health units<\/a> best implement the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nice.org.uk\/guidance\/ph48\">NICE recommendation<\/a> that all NHS funded sites should provide access to on-site stop smoking services and deliver care in an environment free of smoke. <\/p>\n<p>The guidance highlights case studies which show the benefits of completely smokefree mental health units, where service users are provided support to stop smoking. This has resulted in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>better patient health<\/li>\n<li>freeing up staff time<\/li>\n<li>improved ward atmosphere<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Alongside the physical health improvements, an increasing body of research is finding that mental health can be improved by stopping smoking. Contrary to the myth, evidence shows that stopping smoking is associated with reduced depression, anxiety, stress and improved positive mood and quality of life.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence also shows that people who smoke often require higher doses of psychotropic medication as smoking increases the metabolism of these drugs. <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rcplondon.ac.uk\/publications\/smoking-and-mental-health\">Smoking is estimated to increase psychotropic drug costs<\/a> in the UK by up to \u00a340m per year. Medical guidelines indicate stopping smoking can lead to reductions in dosage and usage of psychotropic drugs which benefits the patient by reducing the side-effects associated with these medications.<\/p>\n<p>The guidance coincides with new financial incentives from NHS England, which encourages mental health care providers to support users in secure settings to stop smoking.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Kevin Fenton, National Director of Health and Wellbeing, <abbr title=\"Public Health England\">PHE<\/abbr>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Public Health England\u2019s vision is to reduce the unacceptable inequalities in health experienced by people living with mental health problems \u2013 starkly illustrated by our figures showing smoking rates in mental health units three times those in the population as a whole.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">We cannot allow this, or the myth that smoking improves mental health, to continue. Our role is to speak to the evidence and this guidance highlights best practice for commissioners to reduce smoking in mental health units \u2013 as we move towards delivering care in an environment free of smoke &#8211; as we are in other NHS hospitals across the country.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Matthew Day, Consultant in Public Health Specialised Commissioning for <abbr title=\"Public Health England\">PHE<\/abbr> and the NHS England Mental Health Programme of Care Board:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">We are learning from existing units that service users are just as likely to want to stop smoking as the general population, and can do so when offered support. Existing smokefree mental health units have made a real impact by providing a supportive environment to help users quit tobacco and experience the physical, mental, social and financial benefits of a smokefree life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Mary Yates, Modern Matron at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (<abbr title=\"South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust\">SLaM<\/abbr>):<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Since going smokefree in October 2014, <abbr title=\"South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust\">SLaM<\/abbr> has demonstrated that when patients and staff are given appropriate support, the long standing culture of smoking in mental health services can be broken. All <abbr title=\"South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust\">SLaM<\/abbr> patients are now screened for smoking status at the first contact and offered appropriate help to make a quit attempt or abstain whilst in the smokefree hospital environment. Our staff have reinvested time previously spent facilitating smoking, to the provision of therapeutic activities which support health and wellbeing. The benefits to everyone have been significant.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"background\">Background<\/h2>\n<p>Public Health England exists to protect and improve the nation\u2019s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. It does this through world-class science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and the delivery of specialist public health services. <abbr title=\"Public Health England\">PHE<\/abbr> is an operationally autonomous executive agency of the Department of Health.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/public-health-england\">www.gov.uk\/phe<\/a> Find us on <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PublicHealthEngland\">Facebook:<\/a> Follow us on Twitter: <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/phe_uk\">@PHE_uk<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_1530\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Public Health England Press Office<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:phe-pressoffice@phe.gov.uk;%20Joe.sparks@phe.gov.uk%20\">phe-pressoffice@phe.gov.uk; Joe.sparks@phe.gov.uk <\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Telephone<\/span><br \/>\n              020 3682 0572 \/ 020 7654 8400\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out of hours telephone<\/span><br \/>\n               020 8200 4400\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Mobile<\/span><br \/>\n              07833 482 019\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New guidance highlights case studies of successful implementation of NICE guidance and the benefits for patients and staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}