Join our next webinar
Join our webinar on 24th March 2026 (1pm-3pm)
Essential updates for the smoking cessation community: Partial Agonists in Secondary Care, and Community Hubs
Please register using the form below.
We’re pleased to share the agenda for our upcoming webinar on 24th March 2026 (1-3pm) - a packed and insightful programme designed to support our partners across pharmacy, community settings, and secondary care.
With expert speakers, service updates, and the latest evidence-based practice, this event will help strengthen our collective mission to end smoking.
A Partial Agonist (Cystisinicline and Varenicline) Recap
Heidi Croucher, Founder and Joint Lead Convenor, SCaH.
As partial agonists return to the forefront of treatment options, we’ll provide an accessible overview including:
- How partial agonists work and why they’re effective
- Safety and suitability considerations
- Evidence supporting their use in routine cessation care
A great refresher for all frontline professionals
Smoking Cessation Service (Advanced Pharmacy) – Key Changes
Rob Hebdon, Senior Policy Lead – Pharmacy Clinical Strategy, Primary Care & Community Services, NHS England.
Pharmacy teams play a crucial role in the next phase of our Smokefree strategy. This segment will outline:
- Updates to the Advanced Pharmacy Smoking Cessation Service
- Referral pathways and best-practice approaches
- Support tools being rolled out to enhance quit success rates
PGD Support for Partial Agonists & the New Smokefree Offer
Louise Ross, Clinical Consultant (NCSCT) and Stop Smoking Lead, Smoke Free Digital.
Louise will update on the new Patient Group Direction (PGD) support, making partial agonists more accessible across clinical settings.
Topics include:
- PGD framework and training requirements
- How the new Smokefree offer integrates medication support
- Practical tips for implementation across services
Embedding Partial Agonists into Outpatient, Peri‑Operative & ED Pathways Martin Lever, SCaH Joint Lead Convenor.
As part of the NHS 10-Year Plan, a key focus in 2026 will be to expand support beyond primary care. Martin will outline:
- How hospitals can initiate partial agonists during outpatient visits
- Peri‑operative benefits, including improved surgical outcomes
- Opportunities for brief interventions and prescribing in Emergency Departments
This session aims to support consistent adoption across secondary care.
Community Hubs: A 10‑Year Vision for Smoking Cessation
Darush Attar-Zadeh Clinical Fellow Respiratory Lead pharmacist in NW London. Primary Care Respiratory Society (PCRS) Executive Chair. Co-Chair Task Force Medicines Optimisation Committee and part of the IPCRG teaching faculty for treating Tobacco Dependence and Asthma Right Care.
Darush will explore the role of Community Hubs within the long-term Smokefree strategy. Topics include:
- How hubs can serve as accessible, non‑clinical touchpoints
- Integration with wider wellbeing and prevention programmes
- Opportunities for local organisations to participate in future development
Interactive Q&A
We’ll close with an open Q&A session - your chance to:
- Ask questions directly to our panel of experts
- Share local insights and challenges
- Shape future support and service development
SCaH/Intermedical webinar
Carbon Monoxide Breath Testing Beyond Cigarettes: Emerging Evidence and Best Practice in Community and Secondary Care
Tuesday, 3rd February 2026
Speakers
Louise Ross – Clinical Consultant (NCSCT) and Stop Smoking Lead, Smoke Free Digital
Heidi Croucher – Lead Convenor, Smoking Cessation and Harm Reduction (SCaH) and Lead Treating Tobacco Dependency Midwife, NHS England Prevention
Kevin Smith – Harm Reduction Practitioner, Dorset HealthCare
Session Overview
Carbon monoxide (CO) breath testing is widely recognised as a key tool in smoking cessation, but its role is expanding across community, maternity, mental health and secondary care settings. This webinar will explore emerging evidence, practical applications and real-world examples demonstrating how CO breath testing can support wider tobacco dependency treatment and harm reduction pathways.
Topics
Carbon monoxide breath testing in the community | Shisha use and carbon monoxide exposure | Cannabis use and carbon monoxide | Embedding CO breath testing within secondary care as best practice | Case study from a Dorset mental health inpatient hospital | Live Q&A session
Watch the intermedical webinar
brace webinar
Smoking Cessation Services for People with Serious Mental Illness: A rapid evaluation
Tuesday 9th December 2025
Speaker: Dr Jennifer Newbould, Senior Research Leader at RAND Europe and member of the Executive and Co-PPIE Lead for BRACE (The Birmingham, RAND and Cambridge Evaluation Centre, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research).
In this webinar, Jennifer presented the BRACE study, a rapid evaluation of NHS England’s stop smoking services for people with severe mental illness (SMI).
Drawing on a mixed-methods approach, Jennifer presented findings on service delivery, measures of success, and referral pathways, and shared insights from people with lived experience of smoking and SMI. She concluded by offering recommendations for service development, policymakers, and future evaluation.
Dr Jennifer Newbould has over twenty-five years’ experience in health services research. Her work focuses on rapid evaluation, primary care and patient experience. Dr Newbould currently co-leads the Drug Strategy Investment in Treatment And Recovery (D-SITAR) Evaluation (with Ms Lucy Strang, RAND Europe) and the CONCORD: Coordinated Care of Rare Diseases study (with Prof Stephen Morris, University of Cambridge). She is Principle-Investigator on the smoking cessation for people with serious mental illness project.
Watch the BRACE webinar
C2C with Viatris webinar series
SCaH partnered with Viatris for a six-part webinar series titled (C2C). This series was designed to deepen knowledge of smoking cessation through nicotine analogue therapies.
Led by expert speakers Martin Lever (Smoking Cessation & Health Conference Joint Lead Convenor) and Heidi Croucher (Founder & Joint Lead Convenor of SCaH), the series offers valuable insights into innovative approaches to treating tobacco dependence, with the goal of improving patient outcomes and transforming clinical practices.