Hampshire and Isle of Wight Tobacco Dependency Service Evaluation

Overview

NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight (NHS HIOW) have introduced Tobacco Dependency Treatment Services to its acute hospitals as part of its commitment to the NHS Long Term Plan Prevention strategy.

All people admitted to hospital who smoke will be offered a mixture of behavioural support and pharmacotherapy during their inpatient stay to support them to quit smoking. Upon discharge, patients are referred to local authority public health commissioned services, primary care and pharmacy Local Incentive Schemes for ongoing support.

NHS HIOW approached Health Innovation Wessex (HIW) to carry out an independent evaluation of the Tobacco Dependency Treatment Services in June 2024 with an interest in learning about value for money and approaches to caring for under-served groups. Initially, the evaluation aimed to inform funding decisions for the 2025/26 financial year. Previous funding for the Tobacco Dependency Services was non-recurrent which had a negative impact on performance (e.g. vacant posts due to short-term contracts). However, at the time of writing, recurrent funding had been agreed.

While the quantitative element of the evaluation surfaced several data issues which meant that we were not able to answer the original questions, it is hoped that greater financial security will bring an improvement in data quality. The shape of the evaluation changed to focus on describing and understanding the data issues with a view to improved measurement of impact in the future.