What’s New
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Smoking Cessation
Overview
Current, ex-smokers and never-smokers often have different thoughts, attitudes and beliefs towards smoking and the effectiveness of stop-smoking services, therapies and Swap 2 Stop.
In-Person Half-Day Course
Smoking, you & patients
- National and local prevalence
- Our own smoking history and its impact
- Myth busting
- Smoking stigma
- Cardiovascular impact
Difficult conversations
- Very Brief Advice (VBA) methodology
- Behaviour change techniques
- Challenges and solutions
- Perform examples of difficult conversions
Stop Smoking Services
- Latest service and its eligibility criteria
- Common questions presented when referring patients to the service
- Perform examples of difficult conversions
- Who and how to refer refresher
- Increasing referrals
The training will accompany a learner workbook where HCPs can record their learning journey and the opportunity for reflection.
Three months after training is delivered, attendees will be invited to join the Community of Practice, consisting of a series of interactive webinars led by the trainer. The goal is to reinforce the learning content, allow participants to connect/reconnect with fellow learners, share their progress, and plan the next steps in their journey to improve referrals to smoking cessation services.
Using behaviour change techniques, exploring attitudes and beliefs along with myth-busting, will improve HCPs confidence in having these difficult conversations. It will also give greater awareness of the impact smoking has on cardiovascular risk and the risk factors, ultimately leading to increased referrals.

Health Inequalities Training
Overview
It can often be considered that the concept of health inequalities relates only to people working at population level and not practitioners or workers who focus on the care of individuals. There is growing recognition that whatever our role, each of us can make a difference during consultations, through influencing the design of services or using our influence to advocate for wider changes.
Through participation in our blended learning programme, staff will be upskilled to understand Health Inequalities and the impacts of these to provide improved access, a better experience and improved health outcomes for underserved communities. Increased awareness, acquisition of practical skills and enhanced knowledge will also support recruitment, retention and resilience within the primary care workforce.
Successful completion of the training will support individuals in their journey to become a Health Inequalities Advocate within their organisation to promote the Health Inequalities Framework for Action principles, embed these guiding principles into their organisational ways of work and to signpost and support colleagues in their own development and understanding of these expectations.

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Describe and appreciate the differences between equality and equity
- Recognise the interconnected relationship between equality, diversity and inclusion
- Recognise the causes and measures of Health Inequalities in services, experience and outcomes for individuals and populations both generally and locally
- Discuss the Health Inequalities Framework for Action ambitions and the Core20Plus approach and local data
- Appreciate the legal implications of Health Inequalities and the legal duties including the Equality Act, NHS statement on information, Health and Social Care Act and NHS constitution
- Reflect upon the role of individual health and care professionals in reducing Health Inequalities including data recording and self-assessment
- Discuss the practicalities of using engagement and data driven approaches to explore and understanding local population needs and identify specific health inequalities