The UK Vaping Industry Association, the UK’s largest trade association for the vaping sector in the UK, has welcomed the publication of a new NCSCT e-guide produced to help UK smoking cessation teams to incorporate vaping into their services.
Months ago with the cooperation of leading smoking cessation experts and doctors, the UKVIA published its own guide to help clinicians and those involved in stop smoking services after the NHS revealed it was trialling giving e-cigarettes to smokers attending some A&E departments and the Department for Health said it would look at prescribing vape devices on the NHS.
Since then the Association has written to over 300 NHS Trusts signposting them to the guide and offering expert insights into helping patients who smoke to transition from combustible tobacco to vaping, as well as partnering with the world’s largest stop smoking support app, Smoke Free, with over 6 million downloads worldwide.
Now the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training has also published a guide following Government health watchdog the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s announcement that e-cigarettes should now be offered to smokers alongside other nicotine replacement therapies such as gums and patches.
John Dunne, Director General of the UKVIA, said: “The last 12 months has seen vaping embraced by the healthcare sector like never before, which is a huge leap forward when it comes to harm reduction.
“We are in favour of any new resource that encourages smoking cessation teams to incorporate vaping into their services which is why in September we developed a ‘healthcare hub’ for our website with an accompanying downloadable guide shared across the NHS.”
The NCSCT’s guide can be found here.