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LOCAL FAMILIES GET STOP SMOKING AND PREVENTION SUPPORT THANKS TO BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Jun 22, 2015 | Press Release |

Buckinghamshire County Council is participating in a national project to help stop young people from starting to smoke and their parents/carers to quit.

QUIT, the UK charity is rolling out Smoke Free Family Life across the country including Buckinghamshire, the county where the project originated.

A QUIT Youth Presenter is working with local schools to deliver presentations to pupils as well as giving out booklets that include details of local stop smoking support for parents or other family members. Booklets that aim to educate the children and young people about the harms of smoking are also being given out.

The project is being evaluated by University College London as part of a nationwide evaluation to identify how using a whole family approach to educating young people on the harms of smoking, helps to reduce the numbers of young people starting to smoke and increases the number of adult smokers quitting. The project aims to give young people the facts about smoking so that they can make an informed choice as well as supporting parents/carers who smoke to stop. The project is being run in partnership with the Buckinghamshire stop smoking service.

Councillor Patricia Birchley says:

“We are delighted to be able to support this project, which aims to help our young people make informed choices about smoking. We know that smoking causes around 600 deaths in our county each year and contributes to many long and short term illnesses, such as emphysema and heart disease. We want to tackle this problem by supporting projects that provide the right information to young people and their families about the real risks of tobacco use.” For further information about local stop smoking support visit www.smokescape.org or call 0845 27 07 222

Bristol takes innovative approach to help parents quit smoking

| Press Release |

Bristol is trialing a new approach to help parents quit smoking and prevent young people from picking up the habit.

The council is supporting UK charity, QUIT, to roll out its Smoke Free Family Life campaign in Bristol after a pilot scheme enjoyed significant success.

The campaign involves working with schools, initially eight primary and two secondary schools, to give young people the facts about smoking to create discussions with their parents and carers who want to quit.

The QUIT team are going into schools to give presentations to children aged 7 – 14 years, as research has shown this is when children are most likely to think about taking up smoking in the future. Information booklets are also handed out, with separate editions and messaging for parents and pupils.

Councillor Daniella Radice, Assistant Mayor for Neighbourhoods with responsibility for Public Health, said: “Giving up smoking is extremely difficult but there’s a lot of support available for people who want to quit. I’m pleased that Bristol is working with QUIT to trial this new approach, which has proven to be a success in other places. It’s great we can work with other organisations to help people stop.”

The first presentation in a school will take place this week at Fair Furlong Primary School with others to follow shortly after.

Nick Faraday, Youth Services Manager for QUIT, said: “We’ve got high hopes for this holistic approach. During the trial 40% of young people who saw the presentations said they spoke to their parents or carers about smoking and of those 62% said they would attempt to quit as a result of the conversation.

“We’re taking a double-pronged approach to target both children and parents. The booklets we’ve designed explain the dangers of smoking in an age-appropriate way and we’ve found that as a result kids are less likely to start smoking, and parents are more likely to quit.”

QUIT will work with pupils and their parents and carers to evaluate the success of the campaign, with support from the council’s stop smoking team to track the number of people who successfully quit.

A robust methodology and evaluation is being carried out by Professor Robert West – a leading global expert in smoking cessation – and his team at University College London.

Bristol City Council’s stop smoking team is working across the city on a number of initiatives to help citizens stop smoking including recent campaigns to discourage people from smoking in cars and encouraging people not to smoke in certain public squares.

People looking to quit smoking can call Smokefree Bristol on 0117 922 22 55

For more information or interview requests please contact Amy Bullen, Public Relations Officer at Bristol City Council, amy.bullen@bristol.gov.uk or 0117 922 4316.

New CEO for QUIT

Jun 17, 2015 | Press Release |

Paul Bishop has been appointed the new CEO for QUIT, the UK charity that helps smokers to stop and children to never start.
Peter Brice, Chair of QUIT’s Trustees said, “We are delighted to welcome Paul to QUIT. He has the experience and skills needed to take the charity forward at this exciting time of growth.”
Paul joins QUIT from the Financial Ombudsman Service. Paul has nearly 20 years experience of leading publicly funded programmes including the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative, as a Government Advisor and a Director of Project Fullemploy.
Paul says, “I am looking forward to leading the charity forward and building on the excellent work produced over the years.”
Paul succeeds Glyn McIntosh who is leaving to join Bishopsland Educational Trust.

For more details please contact Paul Bishop on 0207 553 2109.
Or email him at: P.Bishop@quit.org.uk