Training GPs to help patients quit smoking

Rachael shares details of our new report exploring GP staff training to provide the right support for patients.

Smoking is an addiction which is incredibly tough for people to break. But with the right support from doctors, nurses and pharmacists, people are much more likely to successfully give up smoking.

If you smoke, it will be much harder to manage your asthma. Smoking also increases the risk of having an asthma attack. Because of this we want all health care professionals trained to provide that help.

We have a new report exploring how many GPs around the UK are trained to provide a specific type of support called Very Brief Advice, known as VBA. We found that not enough GPs have the right amount of training to be using VBA with their patients.

What is VBA?

If your doctor or nurse has asked you whether you smoke before, they may have actually been using VBA.

VBA is simply 3 questions about smoking which all health care professionals should use. It involves asking people whether they smoke, or if they’ve managed to stay off cigarettes if they’ve recently quit, giving advice about the best ways to quit, and then offering support to stop for people who are ready.

VBA is so helpful because it makes sure that smoking is discussed, and that people that there is support available to help them quit. It also gives health care professionals an easy framework to offer that help, instead of what can otherwise be a difficult conversation.

I’ve been a GP for more than thirty years, and I’ve always tried to encourage patients to stop smoking. Most people are in some way already thinking about stopping, and they don’t want to be a smoker forever. VBA doesn’t hassle the patient to stop, but it lets them know that as a health care professional we think stopping smoking is really important and that we can support them to do it.” Steve, a GP in Somerset

Everyone who smokes deserves to get help to stop. If you have asthma, it’s particularly important because giving up lowers your asthma risk dramatically, no matter how long you’ve smoked for.

The best way to quit is through a combination of treatment, such as patches or prescribed medication, and counselling support from a trained professional, and through VBA your doctor can make sure you get access to these.

What did our research find?

We conducted a survey of over 1,000 GPs across the UK to ask them about the training they’ve had in VBA. We found that over half of GPs in the UK have never had any training in VBA, but just 2% of GPs told us that they have had comprehensive training in it.

This means that there are likely to be large numbers of people with asthma who smoke under the care of a GP who doesn’t have the right training in talking to them about smoking.

What are we going to do next?

We have an ambition for everyone who works in GP surgeries, pharmacies and dentists to have training in VBA. VBA is a really simple tool which can make a huge difference to the lives of people with asthma.

There has been, and continues to be, a huge effort to reduce smoking across the country. But there are still 6.9 million people in the UK who smoke. As well as making the symptoms of asthma worse, smoking is a major cause of some other lung conditions, and it is very harmful for children who have no choice other than to breathe in other people’s smoke.

We’re going to use our research findings to speak to policymakers and make sure that as the NHS recovers from covid, all staff in GP practices can get the training they need.

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