Smoking and mental health: a framework for action in Wales
Smoking contributes to poor mental health and increases inequalities in physical health and preventable premature mortality.
Smoking is a leading contributor to the 7–23-year lower life expectancy among people with severe mental illness (SMI) compared to the general population.
In the past decade, smoking rates have fallen in Wales in general, but not among people with mental health conditions. Our report sets out the likely causes of this.
Some mental health professionals say that addressing smoking is not within their remit. However, providing quitting support in mental health services can be highly effective and can help patients recover.
RCPsych in Wales and the Public Mental Health Implementation Centre have developed a report and framework for action on smoking and mental health in Wales. The report is part of a series on physical health and mental health that was commissioned by the Welsh government and the NHS Wales’ National Collaborative Commissioning Unit.
The report has identified three priority areas for action to reduce smoking among people with mental health conditions in Wales: (1) address misperceptions about smoking in mental health settings; (2) improve implementation of quitting strategies in mental health settings, including smoke-free policies; and (3) address the lack of data on smoking and quitting among people with SMI in Wales.
To address these priority areas, the report makes four recommendations:
- Provide training resources for people working in mental health to support smoking cessation, including to address misperceptions among staff.
- Augment the implementation of national smoking cessation strategies to better support people with mental health conditions.
- Improve accessibility to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and other smoking-cessation medication.
- Address data gaps by collecting reporting information on rates of smoking, including among people with mental health conditions.
