Tobacco Free Campus training videos for staff launched on National No Smoking Day 2023

It’s recognized that implementing tobacco free health services is not easy and needs consistent leadership, management, communication and monitoring in order to be successful. With that in mind a series short instructional videos relating to the implementation of Tobacco Free Campus policy in the health service were launched at the National No Smoking Day: Patient Safety and Reducing the Risk through a Tobacco Free Health Service webinar.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) aims to create a clean and healthier environment for staff, patients, service users and visitors in Irish health services, free from tobacco and e-cigarettes. All staff members share the responsibility to support compliance with the Tobacco Free Campus Policy. While this is a HSE policy, it also applies to HSE-funded organisations including Section 38 hospitals and agencies.

The Tobacco Free Ireland Programme continually evaluates and works closely with individual services to support better implementation of the Tobacco Free Campus Policy and there are a number of tools to support managers and help improve implementation. The programme has extend the suite of resources and produced new staff training video’s to support staff when communicating the TFC policy effectively with their colleagues, inpatients, service users and visitors and to provide clarity to staff on their role in the implementation of a tobacco free campus, and in promoting and supporting healthier lifestyles.

Speaking at the launch Martina Blake National Lead for TFI said:

“The aim of the tobacco Free campus policy is to help change social norms around tobacco use and I think in the intervening 10 years since its launch we have made progress in that regard. While we don’t have 100% compliance 100% of the time, the social acceptability of smoking on our grounds has changed and it has become less acceptable to light up in a health care service. She added that “The policy was introduced because we have a duty of care to protect and improve the health and safety of our staff, patients and visitors. The exposure risk from second hand smoke is a factor and the number of smoking related misses and near misses is unacceptable. We need to manage these. The evidence is very clear that tobacco free environments work – it helps to reduce the amount of smoking and in an environment which is smoke free those who do smoke are more inclined not to smoke and are supported to quit. Our patients expect it and we have consistently received 100s of unprompted complaints from our national patient experience survey and through things like ‘your service your say”.

Catherine Hogan, Patient Safety Together Team National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate shared some startling statistics on the day regarding the association between smoking and risk in our acute hospital settings with almost 4000 reported incidents in the past 4 years alone. The risk and incidents varied in severity with 4 fatal incidents in acute services in the last 4 years. The ongoing level of risk associated with tobacco use within our services is unacceptable and as an organisation we need to reduce and manage these risks. The programme also launched the first patient safety statement in association with patient safety together. See this new resource on www.hse.ie/pst/

Dr Margaret O’Grady MB BCh FRCPsych, Galway presented on her experience of introducing a tobacco free campus in an acute mental health facility and the many challenges this created . Despite the fact that there has been some regression in recent times in terms of the support for the TFC due to staff changes, overall the campus was successfully implemented as a tobacco free zone so the key message was this can be done and is achievable and without exemptions but it does needs consistent monitoring. Key to this is providing equity of stop smoking care to those with mental health difficulties. For success there needs to be consistent management support, training and re training for staff.

Ed Murphy Tobacco free Ireland project manager explained that:

“The new videos have been designed to help staff better understand their role in implementing the Tobacco Free Campus Policy and to help them feel more confident in how to communicate and approach visitors, patients, service users and other staff members who may be smoking or vaping on healthcare premises. The new resource is intended to be added to the existing suite of policy resources and toolkits and to help managers and staff build compliance with our vision for a high quality Tobacco Free Health Service”.

Ed added that:

“While it is every staff member’s responsibility to communicate the TFC policy, we understand that staff are sometimes anxious about how to approach people who persist in smoking or using e-cigarettes on campus. There are tips and hints provided here so that our staff will feel able to approach people and point out that smoking or vaping on our sites is against policy. We hope that through the development and use of this training resource we can increase compliance with the policy”.