Ecig Success with Scottish NHS
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde strike a blow with a sensible approach to ecigs
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by Dave Cross
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“Hospitals should encourage the use of free e-cigarettes on hospital grounds to improve the health of patients and the wider public,” said David Shaw at the announcement that all bar one Scottish health board were going to implement a ban. “Permitting e-cigarette use on hospital grounds would provide much more positive role modeling for children than seeing pregnant women and patients with cancer smoking conventional cigarettes in sub-zero temperatures at the main entrance to hospitals.”
It is an argument that was supported by NHS Lothian and has gained traction with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Although the smoking ban was mandatory, the authorities were allowed to exercise their discretion with regards electronic cigarettes. It is shameful that rather than adopting a sensible harm reduction approach based on science most opted for an ignorant and lazy prohibition policy.
The director of Public Health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Emilia Crighton, commented: “It is clear from research carried out ... that e-cigarettes do have their place in the fight against tobacco and are being used effectively to help people stop smoking altogether. We have carried out our own research which has revealed that some 32% of smokers in our health board area intend to use e-cigarettes in their next quit attempt and that 18% of recent ex-smokers used them to help give up tobacco in the past 12 months.”
Arguments surrounding the rights of mental health patients to vape proved to be the tipping point for the board. Incidents of smoking rates within this client base far exceed smoking levels in the general public and a ban would have led to problems for patients confined to wards or NHS grounds.
“We know that the smoking rate is particularly high amongst people with mental health problems,” Crighton continued, “and we are of the view that the use of e-cigarettes on our sites will allow us to be able to provide particular support to this group of patients by re-designating traditional smoking areas for the use of e-cigarettes.”
The board’s report, according to Herald Scotland, states: “This review of evidence asserts that a harm reduction approach is the most appropriate strategy going forward. If e-cigarette use was permitted within hospital grounds, inpatients being supported by acute and mental health smokefree services could proactively support use of e-cigarettes as part of their quit attempts. Based on the emergence of new evidence, a review of the NHSGGC Smoke Free Policy position on e-cigarettes is timely and would improve consistency between the use of e-cigarettes within NHS grounds and the e-cig friendly approach being recommended for cessation services."
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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