- University of Sheffield researchers Dr Nicholas Woodrow and Dr Duncan Gillespie conducted an evaluation of North Yorkshire Council’s Living Well Smokefree Service.
- The review focussed on the service’s hybrid support model that offers face to face appointments, remote sessions using phone and video calls, and a mixture of face-to-face and remote approaches.
- Remote appointments (phone calls) were preferred by some groups such as pregnant people or those with mental health conditions or long-term physical health conditions.
- Staff noted remote appointments increased their capacity to meet with more clients but that building relationships could be more challenging by phone compared with in-person.
Recent research from Dr Nicholas Woodrow and Dr Duncan Gillespie from the University of Sheffield's School of Medicine and Population Health - shared on National No-Smoking Day - has evaluated the North Yorkshire Council’s Living Well Smokefree Service, a team of advisors offering support to smokers in the region to help them quit.
One of the key findings of the report was that service users appreciated service flexibility and being able to choose the form of support that best suited their needs. For instance, choosing remote support using phone or video call appointments, was highly beneficial for some as it was easier to fit around their existing schedules. It helped in cases where people felt stigmatised by their smoking, such as for pregnant people and those who found it difficult to attend appointments such as people with mental health conditions and long-term physical health conditions.
Dr Nicholas Woodrow, Research Associate in the School of Medicine and Population Health, commented: “It’s clear that remote provision offers increased service access, reach and flexibility which supports engagement. The vast majority of people selected remote support, but face to face appointments were still favoured and needed by some people, showing the need for different support options to be available.”
Service staff also appreciated remote support appointments as it enabled them to offer support to a greater number of smokers. However, they noted the importance of face-to-face appointments as these allow monitoring of carbon monoxide levels to validate quits and empower clients to continue their abstinence. Staff also reported that building relationships with clients could be more challenging during remote appointments compared with in-person meetings.
The researchers interviewed service users and staff and analysed routinely collected service data between September 2022 and March 2023, aiming to assess any differences in outcomes for clients receiving face to face support, remote support or blended support where clients received a combination of in-person and remote appointments.
The evaluation was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Intervention Responsive Studies Team (PHIRST). This scheme funds evaluations of public health interventions being run by local government organisations across the UK.
Talking about the impact of the evaluation on the Living Well Smokefree Service, Service Manager Scott Chapman said: “It’s been a real pleasure to work with a team that can develop this research with us and it’s going to form a big part of the thinking behind how we change and transform the stop smoking service in North Yorkshire moving into the future.”
Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death and disease and is estimated to cost the NHS £2.5 billion annually. There are currently 6.4 million (12.9%) smokers in the UK and research shows around half want to quit. People receiving support from local stop smoking services are four times more likely to quit compared with someone using willpower alone. Therefore, Stop Smoking Services are a powerful public health tool and an essential part of the Government’s aim for England to be smokefree by 2030.
Dr Woodrow and Dr Gillespie talk about the project on a recent episode of the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research ‘SCHARR’ Communicable Research podcast. They discuss the project and its impact with Mark O’Brien, Team Manager, and Scott Chapman, Service Manager, for Living Well Smokefree at North Yorkshire Council.