Agenda item

Attending for this Item from Worcestershire County Council were:

John Smith, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Health and Well-being

Kath Cobain, Interim Director of Public Health

Lucy Chick, Senior Public Health Practitioner

HOSC Members were reminded that as part of reductions to Public Health Ring-fenced Grant (PHRFG) funding, the Council had discontinued commissioning of smoking cessation services, except for pregnant women.

Nationally, smoking prevalence in England had fallen to 14.4% and in Worcestershire, for adults, this figure was 11.7%, although there were District variances.  Redditch Borough Council had the highest estimated proportion of current smokers at 20.5%, compared to the lowest in Wychavon with 6.8%.

There was a national vision to create a smokefree generation, which would be achieved when smoking prevalence was at 5% or below.  The Government had set out a series of ambitions which would help focus tobacco control across the system, including reducing the prevalence of smoking in young people, parity of esteem for those with mental health conditions and a smokefree pregnancy for all.

In Worcestershire, 13.1% of pregnant women still smoked at the time of delivery, equating to more than 600 babies born each year.  As part of the new Tobacco Control Plan, the Government had set an ambitious goal to reduce smoking in this group to 6% by the end of 2022.

The NHS Long Term Plan had also highlighted that smoking was in the top five of various risk factors that caused premature death in England, along with poor diet, high blood pressure, obesity and alcohol and drug use.  By 2023/24, all people admitted to hospital who smoked would be offered NHS funded tobacco treatment services.  Furthermore, a universal smoking cessation service would be available for users of long-term specialist mental health services and learning disability services.

E cigarettes had been regulated for use since 2016 and delivered nicotine in a vapour rather than in smoke.  It was estimated that they were 95% less harmful than ordinary cigarettes but public understanding of their relative harm had worsened over time and was often inaccurate.  In Britain, almost all users were either ex or current smokers and there was no evidence that they had led to an increase in smoking in young people.

In the discussion that followed, Members raised the following points:

·         Research was ongoing to determine what the long term side effects of vaping were and further trials would need to be undertaken

·         In the USA, some States had introduced bans on either flavours or products, which could be counter productive as it would make the activity potentially more illicit

·         Smoking activity in Redditch and Wyre Forest was reported to be at a higher rate, although it was noted that the data was not always accurate.  However, the data associated with the number of pregnant women still smoking at time of delivery was accurate as that was recorded by the NHS

·         When asked whether there was any evidence to suggest that if an individual smoked, would they also drink or take drugs, it was reported that this wasn’t always the case, but there would likely be multi factorial issues

·         In response to a query about monitoring of smoking cessation, it was reported that there was lots of encouragement to give up, both online and face to face

·         A needs assessment was being planned which would address some of the points raised at the meeting

·         The Managing Director of Healthwatch Worcestershire, Simon Adams,  was invited to comment and asked whether the Director was confident about the data being used, other than that for pregnant women.  The Director responded that there were 2 separate data sources and whilst she agreed that smoking in pregnancy was accurate, other data was gathered from surveys, so was less well defined.  The Senior Public Health Practitioner was working with the NHS and reference was made to the Ottawa model for tackling smoking reduction.  Mr Adams offered the support of Healthwatch in any data collection process, especially for ethnic groups.