No Smoking Day 14th March 2007

‘No Smoking Day 2007′

Good morning to everyone taking part in No Smoking Day events across the country. This year marks the run up to the 1st of July Smoking Ban in public places. And as a project catering for the disadvantaged in our borough and tackling health ineqaulites, BSTP will be working at the London Muslim Centre between 10:30am and 2:30pm. Hope to see a lot of interested people who want to quit and also hoping to get a lot of women wanting to give up tobacco use today as DR Haque’s numbers need to be in by the end of March.

I’m also hoping that Vishnee from No Smoking Day will have a lot of interest from the Asian press as this is something of a bonus to the local community. Recent Channel S referrals have been a good sign of recruits picking up!!! We hope that the PCT see sense in funding all innovative projects

This week began with the news of a survey highlighting NHS cuts in Stop Smoking Services across England http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6443271.stm

And a clarification from the Regional Team here suggests thatt the survey is unfounded;

“NHS Stop Smoking Service figures published on 28 February showed the
number of people successfully quit at the 4 week stage with the support of
the NHS Stop Smoking Services was 12% down for the first 6 months of
2006/07 compared to 2005/06. This had recovered from 14% down in the first
quarter of 2006/07. Compared with the first 6 months of 2003/04 the number
of 4 week quits is still some 72% higher.

The same statistical publication reported that total expenditure on NHS
Stop Smoking Services in the first 6 months of 2006/07 was £23.6m. This
compared with £23.2m for the first 6 months of 2005/06 ? an increase of 2%;
and compares with some £14.8m in the first six months of 2003/04 ? an
increase of 60%.

The Department of Health has allocated £56m to the NHS for smoking
cessation services this year ? up from £51m a year ago. These services
remain hugely effective in helping people quit ? for example, between April
2005 and March 2006 nearly 330,000 people remained quit after four weeks.

We have already exceeded our three-year target to help 800,000 people quit
by March 2006, and still more and more people are successfully kicking the
habit. The latest figures published at the end of February show that in
the first 6 months of 2006/07 around 125,000 smokers had quit at 4 weeks
with NHS Support.

We do expect that many people will be using 1 July as a springboard to
quitting, and NHS Stop Smoking Services will be crucial in supporting these
people to quit. PCTs will need to ensure that these services are adequately
resourced to cope with the demand ? but we know that a lot of preparatory
work has already started.

In addition, smoking cessation products such as nicotine replacement
therapy are available on prescription, which are free for more than 80% of
the population.

Overall our tobacco control policies have delivered real reductions in
smoking rates across the population since we published Smoking Kills, the
first ever White Paper on smoking, in 1998. Today, compared with smoking
rates in 1998 there are around 1.6 million fewer smokers. This compared
with a halt in the historical fall in smoking rates in the mid-1990s: and
indeed some evidence in 1996 that smoking rates may have been rising again.

Through our effective action on tackling smoking ? with advertising bans,
stark pack warnings, the highest price cigarettes in the EU, free,
professional services to support smokers to quit, and the forthcoming
smoking legislation on 1 July and increasing the age of sale from 16 to 18
on 1 October, we have a track record of real delivery on reducing the
single biggest cause of ill health and premature death in the country.

Smoking rates today are lower than since records began in England at
24%;and we are on track to deliver our target of 21% or lower adult smoking
rates by 2010.”
Hope this helps re your responses locally, Nicky Willis Team Leader – Supporting Smokers to Stop Tobacco Policy Team DOH’