The CURE programme offers a more supportive approach to smokers, treating smoking as an addiction and offering all inpatients who smoke immediate and comprehensive medical treatment to help them to stop smoking during their admission, with on-going support post-discharge.

This will also help to reinforce existing smoke-free hospital policies for the benefit of patients, visitors and staff.

Smoking is the single biggest risk factor for the development of cancer and is directly linked to at least 15 different types of malignancy. In Cheshire and Merseyside the prevalence of smoking is among the highest in the country and consequently there is a high prevalence of lung, oral and oesophageal cancer.

National and local work to reduce the rate of smoking is having a positive impact with smoking rates continuing to fall. Despite this we want to go further faster on supporting people to stop smoking. CMCA is funding a pilot project to promote smoking cessation at scale for all patients admitted to a hospital trust. This pilot is based on the successful Ottawa model of smoking cessation.

This project is ambitious and represents an opportunity to address smoking at scale in our region.