To provide a snapshot of activities and attitudes of commissioners, managers and practitioners.
In 2010 we conducted online surveys of commissioners and managers of NHS stop smoking services (SSS). Topics covered in the survey included details of current practices and services provided, what informed the commissioning of SSSs, what targets were included within service specifications and whether the types of treatment model to be delivered were specified.
There was evidence that a substantial part of commissioning of SSSs in England appears to take place without adequate consultation of evidence-based guidelines or specification of the service to be provided. Less than one third (28%) of commissioners reported consulting national guidelines to inform local commissioning. Based on managers’ responses, some gaps between current practices and evidence-based guidelines were also evident. Managers reported that the treatment model most frequently offered by SSSs was one-to-one (98%) and 15% of managers reported that some approved medications were not available as first-line treatments.
These findings may account for at least some of the observed variation in success rates at the NHS SSSs
Key contact: Máirtín McDermott: mairtin.mcdermott@ncsct.co.uk
In 2010 we also conducted an online survey of 484 stop smoking practitioners (SSPs) working at the English SSSs.
Again, there appeared to be gaps between SSPs’ current practices and evidence-based guidelines. Most (94%) SSPs offered one-to-one appointments to smokers, only 43% always used the abrupt quit model and 30% reported ever recommending particular medication to clients. It is possible that this may be due to inadequate training: SSPs reported an average of just 3.7 days training when starting work, 26% reported never observing an experienced practitioner before seeing clients of their own and over half (56%) never received clinical supervision.
‘Specialist’ SSPs reported receiving more days training (4.1 vs. 3.0, p=.002), more days observing an experienced practitioner when starting work (12.9 vs. 6.6, p<.001) and were more likely to receive clinical supervision (48.9% vs. 34.9%, p<.05) than ‘Community’ SSPs. These differences between the two practitioner types may contribute to the observed difference in these practitioners’ success rates.
SSPs reported having generally positive attitudes towards their jobs, but reported feeling less positive about their prospects for future employment within the field.
More detail on this study can be found here.
Key contact: Máirtín McDermott: mairtin.mcdermott@ncsct.co.uk
Practitioner responses to the third Annual Survey of Stop Smoking Practitioners, which took place late 2011, are now being evaluated.
The primary aim of this survey is to replicate and improve on the earlier study and conduct a more thorough examination of potential differences in the self-reported practices, levels of training and professional backgrounds of specialist and community SSPs. The study has aimed to recruit more community SSPs than in 2010. As a secondary aim, the survey will help assess any impact of NCSCT training on SSPs’ self-reported practices. Findings from this survey will be available in 2012.
Key contact: Máirtín McDermott: mairtin.mcdermott@ncsct.co.uk