farelmeson: Fewer smokers but we're still butt of nation's joke

Monday, May 9, 2011

Fewer smokers but we're still butt of nation's joke

A HEALTH boss says he is delighted with a five per cent drop in smoking in Nottingham but admits there is still a long way to go.

Figures collected by the Nottingham Citizens Survey found 32 per cent of people in Nottingham smoked in 2010, compared with 37 per cent a year earlier. But this is still way above the England average of 21 per cent.

Andrew Hall is acting director of health and wellbeing for NHS Nottingham City Primary Care Trust.

He works with people in the council and voluntary sector to encourage smokers to quit.

He said: "We're really optimistic that the focus we've had on smoking in the past few years is hopefully having an impact.

"The figures do suggest there is a downward trend but we'll be more confident if we see it continue into next year's figures. It's great that it has dropped from 39 per cent two years ago, but the figures are still much higher than the national average."

It is estimated that Nottingham has the third-highest levels of smoking in the country, which Mr Hall believes is due to large areas of deprivation in the city.

"We know that there is a correlation between relatively high levels of smoking prevalence and deprivation," he said.

"A lot of Nottingham's communities are experiencing high levels of deprivation, and so higher levels of smoking.

"We have found that, in some communities, life expectancy is 10 years below some of the more affluent communities and that is something we want to change."

It is thought that smoking alone contributes to half of this lowered life expectancy and has led to high levels of deaths from lung cancer in the city.

The trust wants to reduce the number of people smoking in Nottingham to 30 per cent by the end of this year, and to 20 per cent by 2020.

Mr Hall credits the drop in figures last year to the success of the New Leaf service, which offers support for people who want to quit.

In the first six months of the 2010-11 financial year, there were 1,377 people using the service.

Mr Hall said that priorities this year included continuing to clamp down on illicit and counterfeit tobacco and working with young people and families. "There are huge levels of illicit tobacco sales in some communities," he said.

"So we have been working with trading standards and the population to support the reporting of illegal tobacco.

"We are also encouraging people to make their homes smoke-free and see what people can do in terms of not smoking around children, or smoking in public places."

Mr Hall said the trust had been working with the city council's youth service to introduce peer mentoring to young people.

"We know that we can continue to reduce adult smoking prevalence but we don't want to have young people growing up smoking," he said.

"Smoking is one of those things that the population decide for themselves and all we can do is support and encourage them to stop."