Smoking Cessation

What is the service?

Community Pharmacies are able to support patients who want to quit smoking through the use of a 12 week programme. With the support of the pharmacy team, patients are able to have a unique programme tailored to their needs which supports their quit journey. Smoking is a huge contributor to other health conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol and weight management.

How this works?

Patient advises the Community Pharmacy that they want to quit smoking. They fill out a initual assessment form and hand it into the pharmacy for a consultation with the pharmacist. The form should be kept in the pharmacy for the purpose of record keeping and the information collected from the form should be updated onto the Patient Care Record (PCR) after each week. The PCR should also be used for the four and twelve week check ups.

The pharmacist then advises the best course of action to support their quit attempt.

Smoking-Cessation-Form-Copy Download

There are a range of products that can be prescribed to the patient from the Community Pharmacy including patches, lozengers, gum, inhalators and mouth spray for example.

Patients should use a primary device to quit such as patches and then use a product such as an inhalator to support with cravings.

The patient presents to the pharmacy weekly for these items to be prescribed. After the initual consultation, a follow up consultation is completed on weeks four and weeks twelve. Providing the patient with support in the pharmacy is essential to their quit attempt. Quitting smoking can be very difficult for individuals.

How to add smoking cessation clients to PCR (- 18 min online pre- recorded video that goes through adding a client:

Shared Care Patients:

Smoking Cessation can also be carried out through the use of NHS Highland’s Smoking Cessation Advisors. These individuals are tailored to support patients with quitting smoking. Some patients may present to the pharmacy as shared care patients. The process is similar but the advisors will prescribe and send their advised products to the pharmacy instead of the pharmacy prescribing the items. Although the patient is shared care, the information on each interaction/consultation must be updated onto the PCR. This ensures the pharmacy is paid appropriately for their service. It also ensures that records are kept up to date as they should be.

Smoking Cessation Advisors:

Each Community Pharmacy will have a designated Smoking Cessation Advisor who can support pharmacy staff with a range of learning and support material. Please find attached the most up to date list for the advisor associated with your pharmacy:

ADVISERS ASSIGNED COMMUNITY PHARMACY (1)Download

Should you wish, we would recommend you printing a copy of the advisor details onto the following poster and displaying this in the Community Pharmacy:

Useful Links:

Smoke Free Highland – For a smoke free life