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TV doctor
flies in to give advice on how to stop smoking
Dr Chris Steele,
the resident doctor on 'This Morning', arrived in Northern
Ireland for a training *seminar
advising health professionals about a range of innovative
methods that will help them help their patients stop smoking.
This year in
Northern Ireland alone it is estimated that 3,000 people will
die from smoking related diseases. Almost 30% of adults here
currently smoke, and at least 70% of them want to stop. The
training session, organised by the Health Promotion Agency,
focused on smoking cessation and the implications for health
professionals involved with helping people to kick the habit.
Máire
Campbell, Regional Health Promotion Manager for Training and
Professional Development with the Agency, said: "The challenge
for the primary care sector is to provide effective support
for patients to help them stop smoking. This seminar has been
organised to introduce health professionals in Northern Ireland
to a range of innovative techniques that have been successfully
used to support smokers who want to give up."
The seminar provided
local experts working in the field of smoking cessation with
the opportunity to share information, research and explore
new approaches to help clients stop smoking permanently.
Speaking during
the seminar Dr Chris Steele who has pioneered a series of
successful cessation techniques said: "GPs, practice nurses,
health promotion specialists and others are well positioned
to help smokers quit as they would see 70% of smokers in any
one year as part of their daily job.
"This means we
have an excellent opportunity to intervene with the smoker
as evidence has shown that even minimal intervention by a
GP can be highly effective in helping patients to quit cigarettes.
Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of premature
death and disease so it is vital that health professionals
actively help and support their smoking patients who want
to stop."
The training
seminar, held at the Wellington Park Hotel, Belfast, was sponsored
by Glaxo Smithkline.
END
*
An evaluation
of this training event is available Here
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