Heartbeat: May 2019

Toby writes about …
Our smokefree sites
TobyLewis_SWBH
TOBY’S LAST WORD
In this month’s Heartbeat you
may have read that, with the
help of Arvind Rajasekaran and
Kelly Redden–Rowley from our
respiratory teams, we are helping
to launch an air quality partnership
to try and tackle harmful health
effects from air pollution across
the communities that we serve.
The Birmingham Clean Air Zone,
which goes into operation in
January 2020, is a step towards
tackling emissions. This summer
we will try and make sure all of us
are aware of those changes and
what actions we need to take. As
a Trust we are looking to invest in
electric vehicle technology. And I
am sure that everyone is familiar
with the car parking changes that
we are making as we try and strike
a balance between making it easier
to park and work, whilst supporting
people to use alternatives to our
cars at least some of the week.
Our second initiative to cut down on
single use plastics is our scheme to
recycle empty crisp packets with the
support of TerraCycle. Once collected
the crisp packets are separated by plastic
type, cleaned and made into plastic
pellets to make new recycled products.
Shanice Abbott from Everyone Health, the
organisation which will be delivering Stop
Smoking services in our workplace
Drop off points will be across our sites
during June. The more we provide to
recycle the more points we generate that
can be turned into financial donations for
our charitable causes.
The smoking ban is almost with us. Ten
months on from the NHS’ 70th birthday
we are in the countdown now to the
changes that will happen on 5 July. The
team are ready and poised to change all
of our signage, and to change our current
smoking shelters. Most will go. One will
become a games space for outdoor sport
including table tennis. And some will
become vaping spaces. You might have
come across vaping displays on our sites
and there are more to come. We will
have machines to purchase alternatives
to cigarettes on our sites. There is simply
no point being half–hearted about this.
The smokefree sites project is not about
putting up billboards and virtue–signalling.
It is about making it abundantly clear
the health harms from smoking and the
alternatives that can help anyone to quit.
There is money to be saved and healthy
years to gain from that decision.
If you are at all unsure what the new rules
mean for you then please ask.
Ask your line manager, ask me, ask
Paula Gardner our chief nurse or
David Carruthers our medical director.
Implementation of the changes is going
to need us all to play a part. We will
have smoking wardens on our sites. Our
security teams will be empowered to
help and take details for fines on non–
compliance. We will use all of our security
cameras to record and take images of
anyone breaking the ban. So, to be clear,
our first message – our main message
– is please stop smoking, certainly
at work or on work premises. Our
second, which is hopefully unnecessary,
is that if you do smoke we will take
action. Multiple fines will be treated as
a conduct issue for anyone working for
or volunteering in our Trust. If we are all
going to work to help our patients stop
and ensure visitors do not smoke on our
sites, then everyone wearing our badge
has to carry that message. Our sites
include car parks on our premises, and
extend to the perimeter of those sites. I
know that teams in maternity and
BMEC are making preparation for
how we will help to move people
from our sites if they seek to smoke
in our grounds.
Based on clinical advice there are no
exceptions to our rules. We will
not be escorting people out of our
sites in search of nicotine. Instead
we will be working with patients
to provide patch alternatives as
nicotine replacement therapy. We
completely understand that there
are circumstances where compassion
might suggest relaxing this rule, but
having debated it widely, we have
settled on this simple approach.
Letters to patients and posters to that
effect are being distributed.
It is understood that some colleagues
on a break may choose to leave our
sites and smoke. Uniforms in that
context need to be covered, and you
can find on Connect new guidance
on breaks generally in our Trust.
We want everyone to take their legal
breaks from work. But we are taking
the opportunity to re–clarify some
of the rules that sit around that,
including around aggregating breaks
together. To state the obvious, there
is no provision for a ‘smoking break’
on top of the normal allowances.
The health benefits of giving up
smoking are significant. I wanted to
congratulate everyone who has taken
the opportunity of the upcoming
ban to make lifestyle changes and
choices. There is definitely still time to
make that change, and the support
to do so will continue. As we go into
summer there are all sorts of ways
to relax, unwind and tackle stress
that do not involve reaching for a
cigarette. The Trust wants to help
and to promote those changes with
you and through you. Having taken
the trouble to read this article, please
think through what role you can play
in a few weeks’ time in supporting
our smokefree sites. We are intensely
serious about the air we breathe
and the chance to improve health by
making these changes. We can make
a difference.
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