More people quitting smoking than ever thanks to UHNM support

The number of local people quitting smoking thanks to UHNM support has tripled thanks to new dedicated support.

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) has employed two smoking cessation practitioners to help increase the number of referrals made into stop smoking clinics.

Practitioners Tony Roberts and Mario Picones work with staff across the Trust to encourage patients at Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital, Stafford who are admitted into care to kick the habit.

Today marks No Smoking Day and since the service officially launched in January 2023, 120 UHNM patients have been referred, tripling the amount of referrals that are usually made, highlighting the impact of the practitioners.

Tony said: “Patients are screened upon admission and given advice and materials to help them to make the decision to stop smoking. Every patient is offered nicotine replacement therapy and a referral to an external clinic with further support available to patients who require additional help from us. We’re delighted we’ve been able to increase the number of patient referrals in our first month of supporting staff and our patients. We want to reduce the number of smokers in Stoke-on-Trent and by offering the correct support and guidance we can really make a difference.

“We really want to carry on increasing the amount of patient referrals we process each month and help patients to quit smoking and live a healthy life.”