PICS: Generic smoker; + headshot - Dr Gill Stephenson, director of public health, Aneurin Bevan Health Board

HELP for smokers who wish to quit is set to be boosted by a range of new measures in Gwent hospitals and pharmacies, with the aim of providing support quickly for those who want it.

A hospital-based smoking cessation service, a bigger role for pharmacies, and targeted help for pregnant women who wish to quit are three new developments health chiefs hope will help them cut the numbers of people who smoke in Gwent.

Aneurin Bevan Health Board is looking to boost its contribution to the battle against the effects of smoking, and sees the above measures as ways in which it can engage directly with patients and public on the issue.

Stop Smoking Wales, the Wales-wide NHS smoking cessation service, treated 6,299 smokers (1,075 in Gwent) during 2012/13, against a target of 28,473, the latter being five per cent of Wales' estimated 570,000 smokers, and it is hoped that boosting services locally will improve the treatment rate.

Gwent does not currently have a hospital-based smoking cessation service, with patients who who attempt to quit whilst in hospital only able to get specialist support when they are discharged.

Now the health board will develop a Gwent-wide service over the next two years, which will provide all-important support for patients to quit while they are in hospital, and provide a vital link with community services to ensure support continues after discharge, when a relapse into smoking is more likely.

Existing hospital-based cessation services in Wales - two established and one being piloted - have reported a quit rate of more than one third after four weeks among those patients who have taken up the opportunity to try to kick the habit whilst in hospital.

Gwent's hospital-based service in Gwent will also be linked to the role of smoke-free environment officers, who are being recruited to promote the no smoking message at hospital sites.

Part of the role will be to provide patients with brief advice and information on coping with nicotine withdrawal, linking with ward nursing and medical staff to ensure appropriate prescribing of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). They will also be able to refer patients found smoking in hospital grounds to the specialist inpatient support if those patients wish.

A pilot project is operating in Torfaen, through a specialist pregnancy adviser from Stop Smoking Wales, to try to get more pregnant women who smoke to quit.

This is scheduled to end in March, but the health board proposes to continue it, and develop the service across Gwent.

The Torfaen project offers intensive interventions at times and in settings of the women's choice, and has earned an Excellence in Tobacco Control Award from anti-smoking organisation ASH Wales.

Pharmacies play an increasing role in providing advice, information and support for a range of health issues, among them help for people who wish to quit smoking.

There are three levels of smoking cessation service that pharmacies can offer, ranging from opportunistic advice for patients presenting prescriptions and participation in No Smoking Day and other campaigns (Level One), through supplying (with NRT) and helping people who are receiving support and advice from Stop Smoking Wales (Level Two), to providing one-to-one assessments and NRT, and monitoring the latter's use through a complete support service (Level Three). This level of accreditation also enables pharmacists to support and motivate patients taking the smoking cessation drug Varenicline, and in some cases to supply it without the need for a prescription.

Other health boards in Wales have invested in developing Level Three services in pharmacies, and Aneurin Bevan Health Board is set to follow that path.

Currently, just five pharmacies in Gwent are accredited at Level Three in a pilot scheme, but Dr Gill Stephenson, the board's public health director, said the aim is to increase that to 25 over three years, and then to 50.

Dr Stephenson said the key thread linking these smoking cessation projects is the need to get those wishing to quit the treatment and support they need as quickly as possible, and there is scope to work with grassroots organisations across Gwent, although services must be in place, to deal with any increase in demand.

"We will be working with Communities First groups and we would like to work with housing associations too," she said.

"The difficulty at the moment is that we do not want people who have expressed a wish to quit, to have to wait. We need to refer them to someone who can help them if possible, that day.

"That is the sort of response that Level Three services in pharmacies could help with."

The total cost of developing these schemes is estimated at almost £430,000 (hospital-based smoking cessation service, £41,000; maternity smoking cessation service, £56,000; Level Three pharmacy service, £331,800).

But evidence suggests the investment will be rewarded with significant savings on NRT and other smoking cessation drugs and support, not least through a reduction in wastage through a closer focus on those using the services.

Most important of all will be an increase in the numbers of people using smoking cessation services, and ultimately, a reduction in the numbers of people smoking.