This section features previous news and updates from single healthcare service members, national/regional networks and associates
2023
2022
GNTH CATALAN NETWORK OF SMOKEFREE HOSPITALS, Catalonia, Spain
- Dec. 2th ICO WHO Sympoisium https://www.icowhosymposia.net/
- Several in-class courses, cancelled due to the pandemic, have become available online via streaming in real time. Also, a new online course on Tobacco and Mental Health is ready and about to be released. We also participated in three different working groups about tobacco with other professionals in the field. Finally, we kept monitoring and expanding last year’s "Let’s keep tobacco away" campaign, aimed at avoiding tobacco consumption in the entrances to healthcare centers premises.
GNTH RESPADD – French Network for addictions prevention, FRANCE
- Dec 14th COLLOQUE NATIONAL LIEU DE SANTÉ SANS TABAChttps://www.respadd.org/blog/2022/10/26/colloque-national-lieu-de-sante-sans-tabac/
- Relevant actions on the past year: 14 Regional symposium on the tobacco-free strategy + national symposium, Dedicated survey on tobacco in health structures : more than 20 000 responses, Promotion of the self-audit tool at a national level : more than 250 audit, Supporting structures in the Gold process (IGR and Anas Le Courbat), 200 health professionals trained on tobacco and SBIRT, Publication of new tools to help structures (videos)
GNTH Czech Republic
CO measurement, consulting
GNTH Switzerland - FTGS
9th nicotine conference Klinik Barmelweid
Development new international smoke free sign
2021
Austrian Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (ONGKG) - Gesundheitseinrichtung Josefhof - GNTH member since 2011 - Austria
A cigarette pipe is installed at the entrance of the health facility. Smokers are asked to throw in their unsmoked cigarettes. For each cigarette, 25 cents are donated to the Children's Cancer Aid. In December 2020, € 750 were invested in toys and other small items and handed over as Christmas presents to the Children's Oncology Department of the University Hospital Graz.
Contacting “Marienambulanz” an outpatient clinic that provides medical care for the homeless. The idea is to train the staff in brief counseling techniques (5 As) and offer support when needed. Planned once the situation regarding the Corona pandemic has stabilized.
Promote certification as tobacco-free healthcare organization at all 5 rehabilitation centers of the social insurance BVAEB. The aim is to certify all 5 health centers to
at least bronze level within the next 5 years.
HEALTH PROMOTING HOSPITALS AND ORGANIZATIONS (STESO) FINLAND/EUROPE
Taiwan Network of Tobacco-Free Hospitals– Health Promotion Administration–Taiwan
2020
May 2020: Coronavirus and Smoking – News from stopsmoking.ch
The Swiss network FTGS of the Global Network recommends the new Swiss national tobacco smoking platform: stopsmoking.ch
This website contains a lot of information, tips and support for smoking cessation. The website is undergoing also a renovation and a lot of new contents will be developed over the next few months.
Current information on how to find out more about Covid 19 and smoking, including videos in 14 languages:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrCKvx4JjQGQxR75My17MolYYyLIm07jP
https://www.stopsmoking.ch/de/ich-informiere-mich/corona/
Covid-19 and smoking is a campaign by AT Switzerland, which has also published a scientific analysis. https://portal.at-schweiz.ch/de/fakten/gesundheit/covid-19-und-rauchen
2019
12th September 2019: Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT) Europe conference
On the 12th – 14th September, the 19th SRNT Europe conference was held in Oslo, Norway.
GNTH member Laura Anton from the Catalan Network of Smokefree Hospitals (Spain) presented a paper on the GNTH Standards for tobacco control in healthcare centers. Laura provided an overview of the GNTH Standards and the process that healthcare services use to measure implementation and monitor progress of tobacco free policies and management within their healthcare service.
Click here to download a copy of Laura’s paper
2018
December 2018: Letter to the Editor
Submitted by National Coordinator of the Netherlands Network for Tobacco Free Healthcare Services - Dr Robert C. Van De Graff and co provides an opinion in response to the recently published systematic review on 'Integrating smoking cessation in Alcohol and other drug treatment settings using an organizational change intervention' by Skelton et al. Addiction (2018)
6 November: Cantabrian Network Seminar: Tobacco: new forms of use
El día 6 de noviembre tuvo lugar la III Jornada de la Red Cántabra de Centros Sanitarios Sin Humo con el lema 'Tabaco: nuevas formas de consumo'.
El acto fue inaugurado por la Consejera de Sanidad del Gobierno de Cantabria, quien presidió la mesa inaugural junto al coordinador de la Red Cántabra Luis Gutiérrez Bardeci.
La jornada se desarrolló en dos sesiones monográficas. En la primera de ellas, las especialistas en Prevención y Control del Tabaquismo, Blanca Mª Benito y Emma del Castillo profundizaron en los productos de tabaco por calentamiento y en los sistemas electrónicos de administración de nicotina (SEAN).
En la segunda sesión, el doctor en psicología y miembro del grupo de trabajo del Proyecto EVICT (Evidencia cannabis-tabaco) Manuel Isorna, estableció las claves para un mejor abordaje del consumo de tabaco asociado al consumo de cannabis y alcohol en jóvenes.
A la Jornada asistieron 60 profesionales sanitarios, médicos, enfermeras y psicólogos.
On the 6th of November, the III Seminar of the Red Cántabra de Centros Sanitarios Sin Humo (Cantabrian Network of Smokefree Healthcare Centers) took place with the slogan 'Tobacco: new forms of use'.
The event was inaugurated by the Minister of Health of the Government of Cantabria, who presided over the inaugural table together with the coordinator of the Cantabrian Network Luis Gutiérrez Bardeci. The day was developed in two monographic sessions. In the first session, specialists in prevention and tobacco control, Blanca Mª Benito and Emma del Castillo delved into heated tobacco products (HTPs) and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). In the second session, Manuel Isorna, doctor in psychology and member of the working group of the Project EVICT (Evidence cannabis-tobacco) established the keys for a better approach to tobacco consumption associated with the consumption of cannabis and alcohol in young people. The conference was attended by 60 health professionals including doctors, nurses and psychologists.
Blanca Mª Benito and Emma del Castillo
Cantabrian Government Miniter of Health, Cantabrian Network Luis Gutiérrez Bardeci, and psychologist Manuel Isorna
July 2020: Target 2025: VNSHS signed up!
In an effort to ‘virtually eliminate’ smoking in Victoria, 24 organisations (including the Victorian Network of Smokefree Healthcare Services - VNSHS) have signed on with great enthusiasm to Target 2025 - which aims to reduce the daily smoking prevalence to 5% by 2025.
Achieving a target of 5% in 2025 would effectively mean halving the number of Victorians who currently smoke (prevalence of adults smoking daily was 13.7% in 2014-15) and a total saving of $4.0 billion in tangible costs - including over $602 million in healthcare costs!
31 May: World No Tobacco Day in Austria
For World No Tobacco Day on May 31, 2018, the “Josefhof-team” was accompanied by a mobile Café right in the heart of the city center of Graz.
Smokers' consultations as well as carbon monoxide measurements were carried out diligently. Those who past us smoking were asked to throw cigarettes into a tube, for which the Josefhof would donate 25 cents a piece to the children's cancer aid.
As a thank you, the willing donors were offered a free coffee and an anti-stress ball, which might replace some cigarettes in stressful or annoying situations.
But also non-smokers did not go empty! They also received coffee and a ball for a voluntary donation to the children's cancer aid and were well entertained by our barista.
The promotion was a great success!
Altogether numerous cigarettes and 266 euros were collected for a good purpose!
World No Tobacco Day in Ireland
This year for World No Tobacco Day (31 May), the Tobacco Free Ireland partners came together to mobilise and empower community action at a conference at Farmleigh. The event supported the drive towards achieving the government’s Tobacco Free Ireland 2025 goal of less than 5% smoking prevalence in Ireland.
World No Tobacco Day in Switzerland
The "Klinik Barmelweid" held an event for all employees for World No Tobacco World Day - to show how smoking affects our body's sensory system.
All employees received different fruit juices free of charge and were used to demonstrate how our senses support us to stay healthy!
The senses are indispensable for humans because they protect us and help it to orient itself. The classic senses are taste, hearing, sight and the sense of smell and touch. The senses are the "alarm sensors" of the body and therefore are a classic protective mechanism, which protect the body from danger.
Smoking unfortunately inhibits our ability to taste and smell. The good news is after you stop smoking for 48 hours, smells and scents are better perceived again, and the sense of taste improves.
Topic of this year’s “World No Tobacco Day” campaign at the Kantonsspital Baden Hospital was focused on the sense of smelling with the intention: “Instead of smoking a cigarette, enjoy a bracing smell of a refreshing tissue first”.
- More than 700 refreshing tissues were distributed
- Many expert talks were hold
- Some requests for a “No Tobacco Future” were registered at the nicotine consulting station.
“Would you like to change your behaviour of smoking? We can assist you!” Referred to the recent study of the Addiction Monitoring in Switzerland, about 1/3 of the smokers have the purpose to give up smoking within the next six months.
Just even little changes can help, step by step, to reach a personal smoke-free future.
World No Tobacco Day in Spain
For World No Tobacco Day this year, the Minister of Health for Cantabria invites members of the Cantabrian Network to celebrate the WNTD theme of “tobacco and cardiovascular disease” on May 28. Guest speakers include Regina Dalmau, President of CNPT and Diego Villalón. For more information see the programa (in Español).
The Cantabrian Network of smoke-free healthcare centres also planned a face-to-face course on smoking cessation interventions for primary care services. For more information see the program in the link below.
For this year's World No Tobacco Day, the University of Burgos, Spain put on display smokefree information for patients and visitors, as well as a posters made by the children admitted to hospital - titled 'The School of Pajamas".
To mark World No Tobacco Day and promote ongoing tobacco Free images, the Aragon España Hospital Miguel Servet listed a number of proposed activities, including holding an information stand to guide patients and visitors who smoke on the quitting path.
View the video made by staff at Hospital Sierallana (Torrelavega) especially for this year's World No Tobacco Day!
7-8 March 2018: 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health - highlights
WHEN: 7-9 March 2018, Cape Town, South Africa
GLOBAL NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS:
View the ‘Global Standards for Tobacco Management in Healthcare Services’ E-poster presented by Dr Rudi Gasser, GN Head of Coordinating Centre.
2017
13 September 2017: Clinics as partners in health promotion and tobacco prevention in cities
At the 6th International City Health Conference Ms. Susann Koalick (Swiss Network) presented a Global Network poster featuring the contribution and experiences from two recent GOLD Forum Members
15 April 2017; Spreading the Tobacco Free Healthcare Message in Aragón Region, Spain
Marta Alquézar Fernández, coordinator of the Hospital Smoke of Alcañiz, shares below in English a summary of their projects and activities with some photographs since joining in 2014. Actions relate to promotion, prevention and treatment of smoking/tobacco in their hospital and neighbouring villages.
- Drawing contest in the schools of the population of Alcañiz, for WNTD2015
- Signage Improvement Project to profile renewed the anti-tobacco law that must by law be implemented in the healthcare places.
- Participation in several regional and national congresses informing about our project and its results, even winning prizes for the best Neumosur 2015 communication.
- Every year, on May 31, we hold a briefing table in the hospital with information and advice to all the people who visit the hospital and the realization of coxymetrics, in addition we are asked by the local and autonomous media to give our contribution these days.
- Classes of prevention of smoking in 2016 in the School of Alcañiz San Valero Escolapios taught for the ages between 9-12 years.
- Informational class for the parents of the children in this age group, but open to all the population of Alcañiz. 2016 Hall of Acts San Valero Escolapios.
- Teaching: Courses have been given for health personnel for both doctors and nurses. In Zaragoza, for the cardiac rehabilitation unit in 2015, for the nursing school of Zaragoza in 2016 and 2017. For residents of Pulmonology in 2017. Also in the Hospital of Alcañiz itself for both workers and users.
- In 2017, the signage of the hot spots where some users and some workers continue to smoke, has been greatly improved. Both with banning messages and messages about health promotion.
- In 2017 also talks in the municipal school of La Codoñera (town near to Alcañiz) for children between 9-12 years.
- Throughout 2016 and 2017 we have been meeting with the Miguel Servet Hospital, Royo Villanova Hospital and Provincial Hospital to help them take their Hospital Smokeless project and create a Smoke-free Hospitals Network in our Community.
- Several publications have been sent to national and regional congresses on the results of the smoking consultation.
- We have managed to extend the available time for the smoking consultation in the Hospital of Alcañiz. We even take care of patients admitted and we have managed to manage patients with drugs not funded by our health system, drugs that are very effective and for which an extraordinary economic item has been made.
- This year 2017 we have implemented a project between us and nearby health centres to improve patient care for smokers by creating current care and treatment protocols, as well as improving referral and access to tobacco consultations. Improving and updating the knowledge of health professionals who are interested in this work.