Outcomes are reported from an evaluation of a novel specialist stop smoking service for patients undergoing elective surgery (‘ELECT’) that was established in 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand. The service involves regular staff training and the development of setting-specific and easy-to-use referral procedures. Cessation treatment emphasises temporary abstinence around the time of surgery, as opposed to long-term smoking abstinence. At the time of the evaluation in 2014, 27 months after its inception, 527 patients had been referred to ELECT, representing one-fifth of all identified smokers. Around 60% of those referred received ≥1 treatment session involving intense behavioural support and nicotine replacement treatment; for Māori, this figure was 75%. In multiple logistic regression analysis, a shorter time to contact of referred patients, older age, being Māori (versus NZ European) and being referred through the surgical hospital services were all associated with a higher likelihood of receiving ≥1 treatment session (p<0.05). Of the 123 patients who set a formal quit date, 68% (n=82) self-reported sustained abstinence at 4 weeks post-quit, and 48% (n=58) remained abstinent at 12 weeks post-quit.
