Stop smoking service- Sefton Council

Sefton Council is looking to contract with a provider to develop and operate a flexible, Specialist Stop Smoking service that will form part of the Integrated Wellness Service (IWS) for Sefton residents.

The Stop Smoking Service will contribute to Sefton’s Integrated Wellness Service (IWS) to provide a range of free, person centred, interventions; using behaviour change techniques and motivational interviewing to tailor health, wellbeing and lifestyle support and interventions to the population of Sefton, delivered in community settings.

Acting as a specialist spoke for the IWS, the Stop Smoking service will assist residents across all age groups to stop smoking. The service will reduce the number of smokers through access to high quality, evidenced based stop smoking opportunities within local community settings across Sefton.

The service will be driven to achieve a reduction in smoking prevalence in adults who require the most support, including people with poor mental health, pregnant women and people living in areas of greatest deprivation.

The service will offer motivational support and pharmacotherapy for people who choose to harm reduce with the longer term goal of quitting.

The service will support people who choose to use e-cigarettes in their attempt to quit. Specifically, the service will provide motivational support and the offer of pharmacotherapy.

The service will provide professional advice and training to IWS partners who are involved in encouraging and supporting people to reduce harm and stop smoking in Sefton.

The wider IWS service will actively raise the profile of the Stop Smoking Service and the importance of giving up smoking, including Smokefree activity, through community engagement and health promotion techniques.

Health Trainers aligned to the Stop Smoking Service will provide triage and assessment function for the specialist service, to ensure that people needing help and advice to get the most appropriate and timely intervention. Health Trainers will also assess and support people to access the wider IWS offer, providing some case management of clients wishing to make behaviour change without the need for specialist input.

Pharmacy and Community Settings

The specialist service will be enhanced by intermediate stop smoking support within community settings including pharmacies, collectively offering free help and advice to all smokers who live, or are registered with a GP, in the borough of Sefton.

Intermediates provide lower level support than the specialist service suitable for clients who are more motivated to quit.

The Provider will be responsible for managing the supply and administration of pharmaceutical products (NRT) to assist smokers who want to quit. This includes clients who are case managed through the specialist service or intermediate service.

The Provider will be responsible for managing the supply and administration of Varenicline to clients via a patient group directive (PGD) with community pharmacists. Clients referred by the specialist service will be assessed for suitability via PGD for Varenicline (Champix).

Stop Smoking Service Aims

The Stop Smoking Service will contribute to the overarching aims of the IWS to improve and protect the health and wellbeing of the population of Sefton and improve the health of the poorest fastest. The service will focus specifically on health inequalities and on improving health and wellbeing outcomes for the residents of the borough.

Outcomes

The Stop Smoking service will be expected to demonstrate the following outcomes.

• Smoking Quits across Sefton
• Smoking quits from people living in the 20% most deprived wards
• Smoking quits from people living in the 10% most deprived
• Harm reduction amongst smokers who are not yet ready to quit
• Long term quits amongst people who are supported to harm reduce
• Quits amongst people who have a diagnosed mental health issue
• Quits amongst pregnant women
• Increased smoking cessation capacity through training of intermediates to deliver stop smoking advice and support across Sefton

The service will be managed through systematic programme planning including key performance measures and milestones.

In order to provide a fully integrated wellness service offer, the Stop Smoking Service will work collaboratively with IWS colleagues and other partners at a strategic and operational level. This will include a variety of universal and specialist service providers, third sector and community organisations.

Service Transition and Development

Sefton Council wishes to minimise the impact on existing clients of any change in service provision and requires a seamless transition between existing services and the new service.

The Provider shall produce a start-up plan that details the take-over and management of the existing service arrangements and the development of a new Service, over the period from contract signature to full operation. Progress against the Start-Up Plan will be monitored during the period from the award of the contract to its full operation at regular meetings.