What is the Service?
The service is an NHS‑funded stop‑smoking support programme delivered in community pharmacies, aimed at helping people quit through behavioural support, regular follow‑up, and access to smoking‑cessation medications
How does it work?
Patients come to the pharmacy and explain that they want to quit smoking. They are asked to fill out the following form to assess the patient of their current smoking status. This will help to inform the consultation with the pharmacist.
Once this form is filled out and the data is collected, the patient must agree on a quit date. The pharmacist will decide what items the patient should receive. Standard practice would be one primary quit device such as a Niquitin Patch, and a secondary quit tool such as an Inhalator or Chewing Gum to help with cravings.
The patient should commit to coming to the pharmacy on a weekly basis for twelve weeks to receive the Smoking Cessation tools.
On each consultation, the details must be uploaded onto the Patient Care Record (PCR). This tool trigger payment for the service and ensures appropriate record keeping. On the patients fourth and twelfth visit to the pharmacy, the patient needs to have a more in depth check in. This information is held on the form above and also on the PCR. Both of these consultations trigger extra payment to the pharmacy for the service.
Smoking Cessation Advisors/Shared Care Patients:
NHS Highland has Smoking Cessation Advisors that support patients and Community Pharmacies with Smoking Cessation. Each advisor has a region with which they cover and these are stated in the document below:
Shared Care Patients come to the pharmacy from the advisors. The process is mostly the same but the patients prescribed items are already decided from the Shared Care Advisor. These usually come on the same form, but via email directly to the pharmacy.
Should you wish to display a poster notifying who your Shared Care Advisor is, please use the following poster:
Useful Resources:
NHS Circular – PCA(P)(2025) 06 – 10 April 2025
PCA(P)(2025)06 – Updated Patient Group Direction (PGD) For Varenicline | Community Pharmacy Scotland