QA set to be a smoke-free site

Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital will be a smoke free site by 2019.

The month of Stoptober, which began on the 1st of the month, has inspired QA Hospital to become a smoke free site from January 14, 2019.

Stoptober is the Public Health England’s annual stop smoking campaign whereby those throughout the UK make an attempt to quit smoking.

In Portsmouth, smoking rates have declined. Over the last few years the numbers have dropped, but there are still 15.2% of adults throughout the south who do — above the average for England.

Death rates due to smoking in Portsmouth are also significantly higher than the national average.

Nationally, it causes 80,000 premature deaths every year and contributes to 1.7 million hospital admissions.

Smoking costs the NHS about £2 billion a year and the cost to our society could be as much as £13.8 billion each year.

The hospital’s chief executive, Mark Cubbon, said: ‘This is our hospital and our community and I would ask everyone to help us in our mission to make QA a smoke-free site. Going smoke-free will mean a much more pleasant and safe environment for everyone who uses or works in our hospital — not to mention the improvements in health it will bring. There is plenty of support available to anyone who wishes to quit smoking for good, so with only a few months to go, I ask that all our patients, visitors and staff help spread the word.’

Since launching the plans to go smoke free, QA has been engaging with all the staff at the hospital to help with training to ensure that they can act as smoke free ambassadors and every opportunity is used to promote smoking cessation to patients and visitors.

If you yourself are a smoker looking to quit, visit: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/for-your-body/quit-smoking/stoptober/