NHS launches summer push to help D&G stop smoking
NHS Dumfries and Galloway has begun its push to help patients – and staff – quit smoking for good this summer.
Advice and support to stop smoking is available online and by phone through Dumfries and Galloway’s Quit Your Way (QYW) service, which offers free support and access to stop smoking medications including nicotine replacement therapy.
Nicotine replacement therapy and support to quit are also available free of charge through community pharmacies. Support to stop smoking is also available for people who are admitted to hospital.
NHS DG director of public health Valerie White says: “Smoking and tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of ill health and early death in Scotland. Every day in Dumfries and Galloway we treat people for serious, and life‑limiting, illnesses linked to smoking.”
“Help and support is available for everyone in our community. Whether you are a member of staff, a patient, a visitor or a service user, support to stop smoking is there for you.”
Advice on stopping smoking is available online from NHS Inform at nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/how-to-stop-smoking, or from the Dumfries and Galloway Quit Your Way service by phoning 01556 505 713 or by emailing dg.quityourway@nhs.scot.
The summer will also see a new emphasis on enforcing existing no-smoking policies.
All NHS Dumfries and Galloway buildings, vehicles, and grounds are smoke-free – including all forms of tobacco use as well as vaping. During the week of the 8th of June, NHS staff and environmental health officers will be working to support the implementation of our smoke-free policy at DGRI, Gallow Community Hospital, Midpark and Mountainhall, by offering guidance, advice and help to anyone wishing to stop smoking.
Environmental Health Officers are also be able to issue £50 fixed-penalty fines to anyone who continues to smoke in areas where smoking is prohibited – which could increase up to £1000 if the case is taken to court.
“We recognise that stopping smoking can be difficult, and our focus is on being supportive and respectful,” Valerie White says. “Our first choice will always be to advise and help people to follow the smoke-free policy rather than imposing penalties. But the smoke-free environment is important for the health of our patients, our staff, and our visitors, and we have a duty to protect and maintain it.”