Standard Treatment Programme for the NHS Community Pharmacy Smoking Cessation Service
This Standard Treatment Programme (STP) complements the NCSCT Training and Assessment Programme which you must take and pass to become an NCSCT Certified Stop Smoking Practitioner.
The STP for the NHS Community Pharmacy Smoking Cessation Service (SCS) provides a step-by-step guide to delivering effective support to patients referred from NHS Trusts to Community Pharmacy as part of transfer of care within the NHS SCS.
It is designed for you to follow closely (do what it says you should do, say what it suggests that you should say) so that you can deliver effective and evidence-based behaviour change techniques to give your patients the best chance of quitting.
May 2023
In response to the revised service specification for the SCS, we have made some small changes to the STP. These are largely, but not exclusively, related to changing pharmacy and pharmacy technician to "stop smoking practitioner". Edits also reflect new criteria to allow for inclusion of people with mental health conditions, including serious mental illness (SMI), and minor additions on screening for medications.
November 2025
Varenicline and cytisinicline (also know as cytisine) are now available to patients accessing the Pharmacy SCS and have been incorporated into the STP. Wording has been altered to reflect the expanded scope of pharmacy team members who are now authorised to deliver the service.
Date of last update: November 2025
