I am writing this to express my utter dismay my the lack of smoking cessation therapies available within the Bradford and wider, West Yorkshire region, outside of Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT).
My mother, 58, has been part of a lung screening programme in Bradford. From this brilliant programme, she has unfortunately been diagnosed with lung cancer, despite being entirely asymptomatic.
As soon as she found out she knew that stopping smoking was absolutely necessary as continuing would make a mockery of the NHS. She therefore accessed NRT treatment through the Bradford Stop Smoking service.
Stopping smoking after lung cancer diagnosis and prior to treatment has been shown to increase overall survival by 30% according to a meta analysis published in the Journal of Thoracic surgery.
With this in mind and on discussion with her consultant she had been advised to use oral smoking cessation therapies such as Varenicline or Cytisine to reduce the pleasure gained from smoking and therefore increase the likelihood of quitting.
Read more: Pharmacy stop-smoking service expands to ‘non-registered’ staff
To obtain this medication, she went back to the Bradford Stop Smoking service who advised that they were unable to issue this medication as they do not currently have a prescriber and would send a referral to her GP to issue it.
She then waited and spoke to a GP who refused to prescribe it as it should be issued by the smoking cessation service.
Additionally, she had also received a letter from her GP practice to say how sorry they were to hear of her recent diagnosis and were there if she needed any support.
Clearly not!
There is apparently also a note on her record that states that “this patient is not to be given this medication under any circumstances”. Clearly GPs aren’t even allowed the autonomy to make clinical decisions where appropriate.
Read more: Revealed: NHS weight loss and quit vaping services on the cards
So, here we are. In a position where no party is willing to provide support for a therapy that is likely to improve her outcomes significantly.
However, this not just about my mother, this is a much bigger issue!
The NHS has a priority to improve the health of the population by improving people’s lifestyle, including stopping smoking, with the intention of moving from a treatment based service to a preventative strategy, all clearly documented in the NHS 10 year plan and increasingly mentioned by the Health Minister, Wes Streeting.
Read CPD: Smoking Cessation
If this is happening to one then I’m positive it is affecting many more in the region and the country as a whole.
Delving deeper into the smoking cessation service, it all becomes too clear as to why they are struggling to find prescribers.
See the article entitled “‘Don’t sign up!’: LPC chief advises against new smoking service over fees and safety concerns’, for further explanation.
This article is aimed at South Yorkshire, but the funding model for West Yorkshire is largely the same.
The irony is, there are prescribers available and they are simply called doctors! This should not even be an issue and people should be able to access the treatment when they are ready to do so.
Read more: MPs: Pharmacists must not be ‘criminalised’ over vapes as quit aid
The strategy needs rethinking, the intention is for service providers and healthcare professionals to work collaboratively together but I’ve never seen more disunity.
It is every man for themselves saying, “well that’s not my job”, with only their patients suffering. Plus, what is the point in banning vapes if treatment to stop isn’t available!
Therefore I urge for someone in the recipients list to look further into this issue to stop it being a postcode lottery and give these patients the right to treatment that they are entitled to.
James Madan is a pharmacist, LPC member, and C+D reader.
If you have an opinion and you would like to share it, email C+D’s editor-in-chief at james.halliwell@norstella.com