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As food and fuel bills continue to go up, Fresh is urging smokers to work out how much they could save by quitting smoking to help offset a rise in the cost of living. Financial experts have warned working families will be more than £1,700 worse off by next April.
According to Fresh, the regional tobacco-control programme in the North East, a 10-a-day smoker spending £9 per pack uses around £1,642 a year (around £135 a month) for cigarettes. The savings from stopping smoking could ease money worries for the approximately 325,000 people in the region who still smoke. Officials are also highlighting the health benefits – reducing the risk of getting serious diseases like cancer, heart disease, COPD and stroke.
Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Every cigarette is doing damage to your lungs and your health, but every pack smoked is also draining the amount of money families have to spend on other things – from the luxuries to the essentials. It is only when you start to add that money up that you realise we are talking about thousands of pounds. We also know how much stress and anxiety money worries can cause, especially at this point in time. Whether it’s towards Christmas, a trip away, new clothes, presents for the kids or even paying towards life’s necessities like power and food, quitting smoking means you will save that money and ease some of your worries.”
Source: Northumberland Gazette, 16 December 2021
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England’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) told MPs he is not “treading on toes” after urging the public to scale back on socialising in response to surging Covid cases.
Tory MP Joy Morrissey, a parliamentary aide to Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, claimed Professor Whitty should “defer” to Boris Johnson over Covid advice. Several other Conservative MPs, including Steve Brine and Steve Baker, have also criticised the senior medic after he urged the public to “prioritise” their socialising ahead of Christmas. Brine said Whitty had changed the government’s strategy “at a stroke” and questioned whether “advisers are now running the show.”
In a Commons committee session on Thursday (16 December), Whitty dismissed the criticism from Tory MPs. He said: “This is advice that I think any CMO would have given, and I don’t think any minister is feeling I’m treading on their toes on this one. I am really cautious about making policy on the basis that everything might go right.” A Downing Street spokesperson said they did not agree with Morrissey’s analysis and said: “Professor Whitty is a hugely respected and trusted public servant who provides independent, evidence-based advice, I think he himself has been clear that he provides advice and it is right for ministers and elected politicians to decide. He has been a hugely trusted and valued part of our pandemic response and continues to do so.”
Speaking at yesterday’s evidence session, Whitty also dismissed suggestions that the NHS was prioritising Covid over other serious health conditions. He said: “This is sometimes said by people who have no understanding of health at all, but I don’t think it said anyone who’s serious. When they say it, it’s usually because they want to make a political point.”
Source: Politics Home, 16 December 2021
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Harrah’s casinos in Cherokee and Murphy, North Carolina, will become permanently smokefree following a majority vote by the Tribal Council. The Council passed the measure with eight members in support and four opposed.
Indoor smoking had been allowed at both venues until their temporary closure in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the casinos reopened in May 2020, indoor smoking was banned as part of Harrah’s COVID-19 safety protocols. And now, with the vote of the Tribal Council, that smoking ban will become permanent. For now, customers are allowed to smoke only in the specially designated outdoor smoking areas.
Vickie Bradley, Cherokee Secretary of Public Health and Human Services, has expressed her excitement regarding the vote results, noting the statistic that “over 16 million Americans a year live with a smoking-related illness.” She mentioned that North Carolina banned smoking in restaurants and added that people are pleased with that decision, both the workforce and the customer base.
Source: Gambling Insider, 16 December 2021
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NCSCT and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) have published new guidance to support English stop smoking services to make e-cigarettes (vapes) available to their clients.
It includes evidence for providing e-cigarettes alongside licensed stop smoking medications such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as an option for clients. The document also addresses common cited misconceptions and concerns about vaping and offers a checklist for issues to consider when deciding how your service will provide clients with access to vaping products.
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Respiratory Futures and the British Thoracic Society (BTS) have launched a joint project to support clinicians and those who provide smoking cessation services within hospital acute trusts to implement and improve tobacco dependence treatment.
The Tobacco Dependency project is a three-year project which will be complementary to the delivery of the NHSE&I Long Term Plan to offer NHS-funded tobacco dependence treatment within acute, mental health and maternity services. This new project will support sharing, supporting, disseminating and updating information throughout the life of the Long Term Plan smoking cessation project
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ASH has published a new factsheet on smoking, pregnancy and fertility. This fact sheet reviews the prevalence and impact of smoking during pregnancy, as well as some of the longer-term health risks faced by children born to parents who smoke. It also examines the impact of smoking on fertility. The table showing risk ratios for the impact of smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke during pregnancy has also been updated to take into account more recent data.
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On Tuesday 14 December NHS Digital released new smoking at time of delivery (SATOD) data. This routine quarterly dataset measures progress against one of the headline ambitions within the Tobacco Control Plan for England to reduce maternal smoking rates. Key findings include:
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9.0% of pregnant women were known to be smokers at the time of delivery during Q2 of 2021-22. This compares to 9.1% in Q1 2021-22 and 9.9% in Q2 2020-21.
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There continues to be large geographical variation in this indicator. In quarter 2 of 2021-22, the lowest proportions of women known to be smokers at time of delivery were in NHS West Essex CCG (2.0%), NHS North West London CCG (2.9%) and NHS Castle Point and Rochford CCG (3.3%).
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7 CCGs had maternal smoking rates above 15%. Those with the highest were NHS North East Lincolnshire CCG (20.0%), NHS Blackpool CCG (19.3%) and NHS Greater Preston CCG (17.0%).
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15 out of 106 submitting CCGs met the national SATOD ambition of 6% or lower.
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NHS Digital continue to urge caution when interpreting such datasets during this COVID-19 period.
Source: NHS Digital
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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