January 17, 2006
From: Minister for Health & Community Care Andy Kerr MSP
To: Chairs, NHS Boards
Copy to:-
Chief Executives, NHS Boards
Directors of Public Health
Smoking Cessation Co-ordinators
Chief Executive, State Hospitals Board for Scotland
Chief Executive, NHS Education for Scotland
Chief Executive, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
Scottish Specialists in Pharmaceutical Public Health
Health Promotion Managers
NHS Health Scotland
Chief Executive CoSLA
Dear Colleague
DELIVERY OF TOBACCO CONTROL AND SMOKING CESSATION SERVICES BY THE NHSiS: MANAGING PERFORMANCE AND SHARING SUCCESS
I believe that we share a future vision of a Scotland which has attained the lowest levels of smoking prevalence in Europe and is benefiting from all the economic, health and social gains that would flow from such an achievement. In particular, we have previously discussed the real and tangible gains for the NHS in Scotland which could be delivered by a reduction in tobacco consumption.
In order to achieve this, we need to focus on the outcomes that our collective work on tobacco is designed to achieve, namely stopping people from smoking by delivering effective cessation support and preventing initiation into tobacco use. Together with protecting people from second hand smoke, these priorities make up the three key planks of our national tobacco control policy. They should also guide the development of your strategies at local level.
In the course of 2005-6, significant funding for cessation services has come on stream in Scotland for the first time. Those resources will continue to flow into the NHSiS throughout this funding period. I know that people are working locally to design and deliver services on this basis and I expect every Health Board in Scotland to continue to give this work the highest possible priority in 2006.
However, delivering services is not enough. We also need to know whether these services are working. 'Working', means attracting the right people in through the right doors; providing individuals with the support that is appropriate for them; creating the conditions for a successful quit attempt; and - critically - making sure that the key data is recorded at each stage in the process. It is about locating services in the context of a local tobacco control action plan where you work with partners to ensure that issues such as communication; education and referral are properly joined up and designed in the best interests of the individual. It is about working with the SE Health Department and NHS Health Scotland to ensure that your policies and services conform to an agreed vision for tobacco control, while making full use of the opportunities for using local flexibility to meet local circumstances.
Above all, it's about reducing the number of people in Scotland who smoke. Annex A to this letter reiterates our priorities and sets out what we are doing to help you to drive forward success in tobacco control. We're making our major contribution from the centre by implementing comprehensive smoke-free legislation in March 2006. The rest is up to you to deliver to the very best of your ability. Working together, I am confident that we can make progress towards our vision of a Scotland free from its current burden of tobacco-related disease.
ANDY KERR