It’s now 12-months since all Hunter New England Health sites went totally smoke-free.

Hunter New England Health Acting Chief Executive Dr Nigel Lyons said the policy has been successfully implemented albeit with some ongoing challenges.

"As a health organisation we have to play a role in creating an environment that supports good health behaviours," Dr Lyons said.

"This policy delivers a clear, consistent message and displays leadership regarding the hazards of smoking including environmental tobacco smoke.

"Our first priority is protecting our staff, patients and visitors from the harmful effects of environmental tobacco smoke," he said.

"I acknowledge that we have some challenges to meet in continuing to enforce the policy on our sites. We are committed to supporting our sites in working through any issues.

"I’m asking that the community continues to support the policy by not smoking on any of our sites.

"In recognising the addictive nature of nicotine, HNE Health is continuing to offer Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) to inpatients while they are receiving care in our facilities. We also assist them to quit smoking if they so choose," Dr Lyons said.

Staff that wish to quit smoking are offered eight-weeks free NRT by HNE Health.

"I would like to congratulate all our staff members and our patients that have quit smoking as part of this initiative – it is an extremely hard thing to do and I commend you on your efforts. I’m sure the health benefits of quitting are now apparent."

Some Smoke-free facts

· Almost 500 staff made a quit attempt and took advantage of the free NRT offered by HNE Health in the past year

· The participants in the program (including those who quit and those who cut down) have reduced cigarette consumption by over 1 million cigarettes over the course of a year

· Six months after the program began 27 per cent had not smoked in the past seven days.

 · There were also substantial gains among those who participated in the program but didn't quit on this attempt: the average number of cigarettes smoked dropped from 20 per day to 12 per day

· Data collected from HNE Health facilities show that smoking care is now routinely provided to our inpatients (92 per cent)

· Figures were released by NSW Health in April 2007 indicating a drop in smoking prevalence (for ‘daily and occasional’ smokers, aged ≥16yrs) from 20.1 per cent in 2005 to 17.7 per cent in 2006 for NSW

· ‘Daily’ smoking prevalence rates dropped from 15.8 per cent in 2005 to 13.9 per cent in 2006 (1.9 per cent reduction). The percentage of people in NSW aged ≥16yrs who smoke daily or occasionally is the lowest in the 10 years that this data has been collected

· An audit conducted in January of all Hunter New England inpatient facilities show our smoking rates to be around 13 per cent.

Contact: Tanya Carlyle

Phone: 0428 112 028