People who experience severe mental illness (SMI) smoke tobacco at much higher rates than the general population and die on average 10–20 years earlier from smoking-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and cancer. Smoking is one of the major modifiable risk factors for premature mortality for this group. Evidence shows that people who experience SMI are as motivated to quit as the general population, but have a lower overall success with cessation. One factor being that they are not routinely offered or receive tobacco treatment.

Our Smoking SMI pathway is delivered by smoking cessation trained speciality Social Prescribing Link Workers who use their relational skills to build trust; focusing on what matters to the person, remove barriers to becoming smoke free with a goal of supporting them to set a quit date. People engaging with the service were supported through financial incentives and free Vapes at the start of their quit journey. We were also able to support family and friends via a group intervention.

We were one of four areas in North East and North Cumbria chosen to test a new Population Health Management model based on smoker identification during the SMI physical health check. Evaluation shows 83% of people through this pathway are from the most deprived wards (IMD 1-2) and 99.3% are from wards IMD 1-4. Showing that we are reaching the most deprived, those experiencing the highest health inequalities and the least activated.

Data also shows that of the people who attend our service 69% were supported to access VAPES. Of those who set a quit date, 41% were CO confirmed quit at 4 weeks and 30% were CO confirmed quit at week 12.