S106 Understanding the barriers and enablers to implementing a smoke free site across acute care trusts in Greater Manchester; results of a hospital staff survey

IntroductionThe current study aims to: 1) provide an understanding of smoking and vaping behaviour across acute care NHS staff, 2) understand the existing opinion and knowledge base in tobacco dependency and vaping, in order to identify barriers and enablers to implementing smoke free NHS sites.MethodsA self-reported staff survey was conducted using a 30 minute web-based questionnaire. Staff members from six acute care NHS trusts in Greater Manchester were invited to complete the survey via repeated internal email communications, screensavers with QR codes and flyers with QR codes. The majority of questions used a five-point likert scale, with a thematic analysis conducted on the qualitative data.ResultsA total of 588 participants completed the questionnaire, with respondents holding a wide range of roles within their respective trusts (figure 1). 19% (114/588) of hospital staff were current smokers and 10% (61/588) were currently vaping. 26% and 39% of current smoked within 5 minutes and 30 minutes of waking respectively. 60% of smokers and 66% of vapers smoked and vaped at work respectively. Responses illustrated a strong staff support for the implementation of smoke free sites (61% and 67% agreed or strongly agreed that patients/visitors and staff should not be allowed to smoke on hospital grounds respectively) and strong support for staff smokers being offered help to stop smoking (68% agreed or strongly agreed that the hospital had a responsibility to provide this). The most recommended methods to achieve this were: drop-in stop smoking clinics and free access to stop smoking medications. Only 35% of staff agreed or strongly agreed that e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes and 81% were either unsure or felt that e-cigarette vapour was harmful/very harmful. 41% of staff disagreed/strongly disagreed with vaping being allowed on the hospital site.Abstract S106 Figure 1A bar chart, illustrating the percentage of participants within the following areas of employment within their Trust: administrative (n = 165), nursing (n = 153), managerial (n = 56), allied health professional (n = 36), healthcare assistant (n = 35), doctor (n = 33), research (n = 14), education team (n = 13), domestics (n = 4), executive team (n = 3), food & catering (n = 1) or other (n = 30). 45 respondents did not specify their job roleDiscussionEnablers to a smoke free hospital site are the provision of comprehensive services and support for staff not to smoke at work (rather