New role for ECPs in smoking cessation

Eye care professionals can now play a greater role in educating smokers about the harm tobacco can cause to their vision and supporting them in giving up smoking under new plans published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The new quality standard for smoking cessation has been designed to drive and measure priority quality improvements in an area said to be the main cause of preventable illness and premature death in England.

David Hewlett, speaking on behalf of the Optical Confederation, said: ‘This is an important milestone for optics, and shows how sight loss and the eye health indicator are playing an ever-more prominent role in the wider healthcare debate.’