It's really great to hear the good new stories, especially at the moment. Here, One You Lincolnshire Stop Smoking Practitioner, Alison, talks about the journey to become smoke free, for one of our clients - Lisa.

Lisa came to see me as a referral from the nurse at her GP surgery. Never having accessed support for stopping smoking she was unsure of what to expect. She attended the Sutton bridge surgery where at the time we were holding face to face clinics. On the first appointment, we covered smoking history, previous quit attempts, and current medical conditions.

Coming from a medical background Lisa was very aware of the effects of smoking on her health and her pre-existing medical condition. Not a very heavy smoker approximately 5/6 per day, but still sufficient to have a detrimental effect on her health.

We had a chat about her habits and triggers and discussing small changes that could be made to change her existing habits. Lisa decided on Nicotine Replacement therapy and chose nicotine patches and lozenges. We agreed to meet every week for the first few weeks. Lisa went away with the NRT and chose a quit date to start.

Lisa came along on the second week, smoke free and doing well, we discussed any potential events coming up that may hinder her progress.

Then lockdown happened.

Our clinics all became telephone clinics, which meant we were still able to communicate on a regular basis, and we posted out the NRT.

Lisa did amazingly well in a changing world and even had some personal events that may have triggered her smoking, but she remained smoke free with regular communication. Towards the end of the 12-week programme we discussed ways of reducing the NRT, not making her so reliant on the lozenges. We both came up with good solutions for her to try.

I am pleased to say she is now, smoke free and nicotine free as well. As a service we also follow up at 6 months and a year to check smoking status and for a catch up to see how things have been.

Lisa sent us this feedback

Hi,

I wanted to give some positive feedback for the service which supports people to give up smoking.

Whilst seeing a nurse at my GP surgery, she informed me of this service. I put myself forward as I wanted to give up smoking my 5-6 a day habit. I felt if I made an appointment to see a professional it would give me more incentive to give up.

I met with Alison, at Sutton Bridge surgery, Lincolnshire. Due to the Covid pandemic, we arranged weekly phone calls, although I knew I could text her anytime if I needed extra support.

In just over 4 months I have stopped smoking and been weaned off the smoking replacement aids.

Alison has been a fantastic support throughout. Very knowledgeable, supportive & encouraging. All her little tips from her experience really helped me. Having someone there who really understands how it feels to give up smoking really makes a difference. My whole journey has not been as hard as I thought it would be and this is because of this service.

I am so pleased I found out about this fantastic service and shall be promoting it to others.

Many thanks to Alison & this service.
Kind regards,
Lisa

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