Waikato District Health Board frontline staff are now offering 'better help for smokers to quit' to 40 per cent of patients.

These are the latest figures from the second quarter Health Targets report released by the Ministry of Health this week, ranking Waikato fourth out of 21 DHBs.

While the increase is marginal this quarter (up from 39 per cent), Smokefree Hospitals nurse coordinator Kate Dallas said this may be due to second quarter data coming from three months worth of patient admissions, while first quarter data was taken from just one month.

"What we are really pleased to see is the number of referrals made to smoking cessation services and increased use of nicotine replacement therapy," she said.

"More patients are receiving continued support to remain smoke free or quit smoking once discharged from hospital."

Since January, Health Waikato has seen a huge increase in referrals to community based smoking cessation services - up to 16 referrals in one day.

"January referrals far exceeded previous months by 50 per cent with 106 referrals, and February is shaping up to be another great month," said Miss Dallas.

The Health Targets report is for the quarter ended 31 December, 2009.

"Double the amount of nicotine replacement therapy has been issued than before the health target was put in place."

In December, two Waikato Hospital wards reached the 80 per cent target and 25 of the remaining 54 inpatient areas (including Health Waikato's Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre, four rural hospitals, and two continuing care facilities), showed sustained improvement towards reaching the target.

Ministry of Health target champions Ashley Bloomfield and Bruce Arroll said, "The DHB was a high performer in this target in quarter one, however there has only been a slight increase in the proportion of smokers offered advice and help to quit in quarter two.

"Given that we are already into quarter three, there needs to be a concerted effort now to make the required improvement in performance in quarters three and four.

"As with all health targets, the Minister has made clear that the tobacco target is non-negotiable."

Miss Dallas said with more interventions offered by staff and better documentation of that, Waikato staff could expect steady progress towards the health target.

By March, Waikato plans to trial an improved inpatient management computer system, where smoking status will become a mandatory field to fill out on discharge so medical staff must complete it before a discharge letter can be issued.

The health target

Better help for smokers to quit The aim is that 80 per cent of hospitalised smokers get advice and help to quit by July 2010; 90 per cent by July 2011; and 95 per cent by July 2012.

Smoking kills about 5000 people in New Zealand every year. Most smokers want to quit, and there are simple methods to help them that can be provided in hospitals.