Thank you to all practices that are referring patients to us for smoking cessation support. Your work is very much appreciated and is helping to improve the quality of lives as well as driving down the future cost of smoking related disease.
As we approach the busiest season for quitting, our clinics are getting booked up fast. Please continue to refer your patients to us. It’s vital that we address patients’ needs while their motivation levels are high. Our service standard is to ring patients within 3 working days of receiving a referral and book them onto a clinic of their choice.
The following practices have referred an exceptionally high volume of patients between 1 April 2011 – 30 November 2011:
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St Mary’s Medical Centre, Hoo – 59 referrals
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The Parks Medical Practice, Cliffe Woods – 68 referrals
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Balmoral Healthy Living Centre, Red Suite, Gillingham – 55 referrals
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Sunlight Surgery – 72 referrals
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Halfway Surgery, Dr Ali – 38 referrals
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Lordswood Healthy Living Centre, Dr Singh – 30 referrals
I wish I could mention you all as some of our smaller practices are doing wonderful work by making regular referrals to us each month.
With only 12 practices in Medway who are either not making referrals or offering structured smoking cessation support in-house, we have coverage across most of the area.
The Dept of Health has recently started a television and radio advertising campaign and you may find that more patients will ask for support. I will be happy to come and provide Brief Intervention training for practice based colleagues. This can help staff to understand why referrals are important, how smoking impacts cardiovascular and respiratory functions, and what the referral pathway is. It can alleviate some of the workload for HCA’s, nurses and GP’s.
Some practices have asked for feedback on referrals and treatment outcomes. We are currently writing to all practices with this information. Please let me know if this is useful to you, or if you require any additional data.
Thank you, once again, for your hard work and commitment. Please ring me on 01634 810938 if you have any queries.
The Stop Smoking Service wishes all our colleagues a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.
