Cygnet Hospital goes Smoke Free with EWS

The Essex Wellbeing Service are working with Cygnet Hospital in Colchester, a 59-bed hospital comprised of 5 wards.

We’ve been providing a range of intensive stop smoking support and rehabilitation services for men with learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders or mental health needs.

The collaboration started in October 2024 when Cygnet and the Essex Wellbeing Service came together to work towards a Cygnet Smoke Free Site. We supported Cygnet Hospital to make their Smoke Free transition and provided a programme of support for staff training needs and vape kit provision to all staff and patients. 

What we achieved together:-

• Roll out of the very brief advice training for all staff (350 staff assigned and completed)
• Identification of level 2 practitioner for more in-depth support (8 level 2 practitioners)
• Smoking cessation champions from all departments met weekly to review actions
• Review of local protocols
• Partnership and Service Level Agreement with Essex Wellbeing Service for provision of 8-week smoking cessation support

The Staff told us:

“It has allowed more time to do other things with our patients“

“We thought it was going to be harder and have more incidents with no leave for smoking.”

”Patients have been happy with the products and able to order online.”

“It looks nicer without all the patients outside the hospital.”

Great results all round!

Through working in partnership with Essex Wellbeing Service, Cygnet Hospital, Colchester has successfully transitioned to being a Smoke Free site. This has been achieved with the support and guidance and the introduction of the 8-week smoking cessation support through service level agreements for both patients and staff.  The team at Cygnet Hospital, Colchester told us the Essex Wellbeing Service has been a vital asset in enabling our service to achieve smoke free status.