The annual Smokefree Bromley awards was held on Thursday 25th February 2016 following the success of last year’s event. 52 attendees packed in to the London Borough of Bromley’s Civic Centre Council Chamber.
Guest speaker Dr Irem Patel began the evening by covering the importance of smoking cessation in treating respiratory diseases, particularly focusing on the overall cost effectiveness of smoking cessation vs the cost spent in hospital admissions and treatment for these patients. To quote directly from her presentation: “Treating tobacco dependence is the single most cost effective lifesaving intervention in the NHS”. Dr Patel also updated us all on the move to go Smokefree at both Kings and the PRUH.
Dr Patel was followed by Darush Attar-Zadeh, National Pharmacy Trainer and Public Health Speaker, who discussed the importance of “Making Every Contact Count” and gave our attendees some great advice and guidance when offering support to their smokers.
Sareena Gill, Smokefree Bromley Service Lead then followed with an update of some of the highlights of the year for the service, including Bromley Healthcare’s Service Innovation Award for the implementation and success of the mobile clinic, and the British Heart Foundation, No Smoking Day Award for Best Community or Local Partnership in 2015. Sareena also highlighted that while the smoking prevalence in Bromley is at its lowest in 6 years there are still over 44,500 smokers still in Bromley.
The evening culminated in the presentation of the awards by Andrew Hardman, Director of Strategy and Business Development at Bromley Healthcare. Top recognition went to Gordon Davie Pharmacy and to Elm House and Cator Surgery for Best Performing Pharmacy and Best Performing General Practice respectively. Marie Skelton of Gordon Davie Pharmacy took home the Best Performing Pharmacy Advisor award, and Julie Beasley of Broomwood Surgery was awarded the Best Performing General Practice Advisor. The final award went to Bromley Healthcare’s Daniel Paterson-Scott for the Best Performing Mobile Clinic Advisor.
“Congratulations to all our winners, and thank you to all providers who work hard to offer the stop smoking support to you clients and patients” said Sareena. “So far this year you have helped over 870 people successfully quit smoking. Hopefully we will be able to continue this great work and help more people quit next year.”
In Bromley there are now 36 GP surgeries and 44 pharmacies (of which 33 are able to dispense Champix) offering stop smoking services.
“Thank you for your invite to the Smokefree Bromley awards evening – a wonderful way to thank all the advisors for the hard work they deliver all year round,” said Carolyn Piper, public health programme manager for the London Borough of Bromley who commission the service. “Due to the continual efforts of the service providers I am pleased that you have contributed to reducing Bromley’s smoking prevalence 14% (2014/15) from 16% (2013/14). The challenge for stop smoking services nationally is getting harder and harder, and with over 44,500 smokers still in Bromley, the need for support is as great as it has ever been. Smoking is still the most important cause of preventable ill health and premature mortality so every effort made is most valuable, and I believe the speaker tonight have done a great job motivating our GP Practices and Pharmacies to continue with the effort they are putting into targeting their smokers.”
The team at Smokefree Bromley would like to thank all who attended and congratulations to the winners.
For those of you who were unable to make it we hope to see you next year.
Smokefree Bromley
For any enquiries or GP’s and pharmacies who have staff interested in Level 2
Smoking Cessation please contact the Smokefree Bromley team on 01689 888003
