Implementing public health in secondary care: A Rotherham perspective on strategy development and implementation

Aims: This paper reports an approach to develop and implement a public health strategy in secondary care and uses smoking cessation as a means for measuring success. Methods: Rotherham Foundation Hospital Trust recognized its unique role to promote, prevent and protect health and well-being in Rotherham. Following consultation across key departments, the trust developed a public health strategy encompassing five priorities. Results: We report ongoing commitment and engagement following the launch of the public health strategy. Over a period of one year (April 2008 to March 2009) 269 front-line staff were trained on smoking cessation brief interventions. We report 890 referrals to smoking cessation, resulting in 414 setting a quit date and 143 four-week quitters (35% conversion rate). Despite progress in implementing smoking cessation, more communication is required to ensure that GPs and hospital staff continue to maximize patient outcomes through brief interventions. Conclusions: The paper provides an approach to implement public health in secondary care. The Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework would be a useful tool to ensure key public health areas such as smoking cessation are systemized in secondary care.