Tobacco cessation

23rd August 2001, London:

Today, the SCAPE (Smoking Cessation Action in Primary carE) taskforce have launched 'Challenging Nicotine Addiction', a report investigating the current attitudes of people at the frontline of smoking cessation.

The report finds that 93% of GPs believe that helping their patients to give up smoking is the best thing they can
do for their health and 87% of their smoking patients would welcome their advice.

Dr Alex Bobak, a GP in Wandsworth, South London, and the Chair of the group said, "This is really exciting. Not only do GPs recognise the importance of helping their patients to give up smoking, but smokers also say that they want advice from their doctors. One in two smokers will be killed by their smoking, so it is extremely important that healthcare professionals realise their potential in tackling this problem and SCAPE aims to help and motivate them to do so."

Despite the fact that GPs can offer real help and assistance to their patients, many feel that barriers exist which deter them from doing so.

For this reason, a number of passionate and enthusiastic primary healthcare professionals have come together to form the newly launched SCAPE taskforce, which aims to bridge this gap between doctors and patients.

The report is published with a recommendation from SCAPE for GPs and practice nurses to take a '30 second approach' with their smoking patients.

This is a simple, brief and effective way to approach the
subject of stopping smoking with a patient during a consultation. It will help healthcare professionals to quickly and easily identify those patients who are motivated to quit, without significantly adding to their workload.

In a survey commissioned by SCAPE for the 'Challenging Nicotine Addiction' report, the smokers questioned said they would welcome advice from their doctors. Over half of smokers who said they do not currently want to quit also said that they found advice from their doctors helpful.

However, nine out of ten GPs said they can be deterred from talking to their patients about smoking by pressures on their time.

Nearly one in five said they are put off by low success rates in the past and one in seven said they believed their patients were unlikely to take any notice.

The desire for help and advice expressed by smokers is extremely exciting and SCAPE hope that the '30 second approach' will help all healthcare professionals make the most of this situation. June Roberts, a Nurse Practitioner from Salford and a member of SCAPE said, "It is fantastic that so many smokers want our help, even those who say they do not want to quit apparently value our advice. We want all healthcare professionals to believe that they can be effective in helping patients to quit. Patients want our help and find it useful."

Much progress has been made in the UK over the last few years in smoking cessation, with the implementation of government initiatives and the availability of more treatments on prescription. SCAPE aims to consolidate
and build on this foundation, by encouraging the proactive and effective involvement of all healthcare professionals in smoking cessation.