Patients who smoke in Stockport will now receive new support with their tobacco addiction thanks to a new approach, and a new team based at Stepping Hill Hospital.

CURE is a Greater Manchester wide-project of comprehensive secondary care treatment for tobacco addiction. At its heart is systematically identifying all active smokers admitted to hospital and immediately offering nicotine replacement therapy and other medications, as well as specialist support, for the duration of their admission, and after discharge too. This will be progress towards a long time ambition and national expectation that hospitals should be smoke free sites.

Once admitted and identified, the new CURE team of five nursing and medical staff based at the hospital’s chest clinic will be on hand to offer support, advice, Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and other medications to help them with their addiction and to give up smoking wherever possible.

Supported by the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership and GM Cancer, CURE is now being introduced into hospitals across the area. Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death, disability, illness and social inequality in our area and indeed in the world. The term ‘CURE’ has been specifically chosen to ‘medicalise’ tobacco addiction and move away from the stigma of a lifestyle choice towards disease treatment. The aim of the project is to reduce smoking in the area by a third to 13% by the end of 2021, and to 5% by 2027. This will save hundreds of lives, and as well as improving quality of life, with ex-smokers spending a lot less time in hospital. The cost savings for patients` household budgets from no longer buying cigarettes could raised 34,000 households out of poverty across Greater Manchester.

Respiratory nurse practitioner and CURE team leader Pauline Holmes said “Smoking is still the biggest preventable cause of death in Stockport, and one in two smokers will die from it. Stopping smoking is the single best thing you can do for your health, but smoking is part of an addiction, not a lifestyle choice, and people need support to get through this addiction. The CURE project will see treating tobacco addiction as a priority for clinicians across the hospital, helping us to help smokers with the support and treatment they need.”

The CURE project launches at Stepping Hill Hospital from Monday 14th September with the new support available from then. For more information on CURE visit https://thecureproject.co.uk/