For inpatients
If you smoke, the best thing you can do to improve your health is to stop smoking. This will not only help your recovery and wound healing, but will also reduce the risk of complications following a procedure.
You are three times more likely to successfully quit with advice, support and alternative forms of nicotine than by willpower alone.
If you do not feel able to stop entirely before your procedure, the best advice in planning for your trip to hospital is to swap cigarettes for other less harmful forms of nicotine such as patches or lozenges.
Planning for your hospital visit
As soon as you know that you are going into hospital and if you smoke, the best thing you can do is to contact your local stop smoking service to find out about support to help you stop.
Our Pre-Operative Assessment and Admissions (PAAU) team will ask about your smoking status and can refer you to your local service.
Whilst you are in hospital
We will ask everyone when they are admitted to hospital if they smoke and will offer advice and support in not smoking whilst at hospital for those that do.
If you are staying with us overnight or longer, then you will be offered alternative forms of nicotine as soon as possible after admission to prevent cravings and reduce withdrawal symptoms.
If you decide to quit for good, we will arrange continued support when you are discharged home via your local stop and swap service.
For visitors and outpatients
For free help and support to quit smoking, please contact your friendly, local stop smoking service below.
Local stop smoking services
- Living Well Smokefree – for people who live in North Yorkshire.
- Leeds Stop Smoking Services – for people who pay their council tax to Leeds City Council.
- Yorkshire Cancer Research – a new stop smoking service at their hub in Hornbeam Park, Harrogate, for anyone living in Yorkshire.
Other information sources
Swap & Stop – is the website behind Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership’s programme to treat tobacco dependence. The programme recognises that not everyone who smokes is ready to stop now and that for some people, swapping to a less harmful way of getting their nicotine is going to be helpful.
Better Health – Quit smoking – NHS website offering guidance on making healthy changes to your life, including advice and tools to support people to stop smoking
Bump the habit – specialist information website about smoking in pregnancy and how to quit.
Helplines
NHS Smokefree Helpline: 0300 123 1044