As serious concerns about mental health personnel not receiving adequate training to help patients quit smoking are raised, a new report published by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is urging local authorities to take action by implementing training programmes.
Data gathered across the globe keep indicating that mental health patients are more likely to smoke than individuals who do not suffer from psychological or psychiatric conditions. Moreover, these individuals are more likely to find it harder to quit. To this effect, they benefit greatly from having extra support in relation to smoking cessation and access to safer alternatives, that would at least lessen the chances of them also suffering from smoke-related conditions.
Sadly, the ASH report has highlighted concerns reported by staff who felt they were ill-equipped to support their patients, with the charity adding that the current training of mental health nurses and psychiatrists to help their patients to quit smoking was “woefully inadequate”.
The report findings are based on the responses compiled from 427 mental health nurses and psychiatrists in adult community or inpatient settings in NHS organisations across England, via a survey completed in November 2019. Moreover, more responses were obtained via a series of focus groups carried out with mental health staff during November and December.
Diane Caruana – VapingPost – 2021-04-12.
Want More Investigative Content?
