Smoking remains the biggest single preventable cause of death in the UK and the biggest single cause of respiratory disease, however, almost two thirds of those that smoke say that they would like to quit.

Health care professionals working within a hospital setting are ideally placed to offer, encourage and arrange support that people who smoke need in order to have the best chance of quitting.

Unfortunately, many health care professionals are unsure of how to ask or help patients and this lack of knowledge and confidence can prevent a patient receiving the expert help they need.

‘Emily’s Story’ was filmed on location at Glenfield Hospital in the Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit. It tells the story through the eyes of a young girl whose father is attending a hospital pre-operative assessment followed by an admission for a routine procedure and the subsequent fatal consequences that the missed opportunity to intervene has. We are then lucky enough to ‘rewind’ the scenario to demonstrate that a small change in the consultation has the potential to deliver a much more rewarding, positive outcome.

Sanjay Agrawal, Consultant Respiratory Intensivist for Leicester’s Hospitals, said: “We are really pleased with the authenticity of this video and hope it will be used across the country to raise awareness and develop the skills of all healthcare staff to enable them to carry out a brief, 30 second intervention with all patients who smoke to improve their quality of life.”

The film has been endorsed by the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and National Centre for Smoking Cessation Training (NCSCT), and was launched at the UK National Smoking Cessation Conference (UKNSCC) in June 2015 to widespread acclaim.

Emily’s Story is available to watch on Leicester’s Hospitals’ Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/128589698