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STOP SMOKING AND PREVENTION SUPPORT PROGRAMME DELIVERED TO BRADFORD FAMILIES

Sep 22, 2015 | Press Release |

Bradford Council is funding the delivery of a national programme to help young people from starting to smoke, and their parents or carers to quit. QUIT, the UK charity, is rolling out Smoke Free Family Life across ten secondary schools in the district and Bradford is one of the newest areas of the country to sign up to the scheme. A QUIT youth presenter will work in secondary school with pupils and make sure they take a support booklet home with them which will include details of support details of the council’s stop smoking service. The Council are participating in a national and local evaluation to help young people from starting to smoke and their parents or carers to quit. The aim of the project is to give young people the facts about smoking so that they can make an informed choice and to support parents and carers who smoke to stop. The project is being run in conjunction with the Bradford stop smoking service. Andrew Gillespie, Stop Smoking Specialist for Bradford Council, said: “We know that two thirds of smokers start smoking before the age of eighteen so it is important to provide effective programmes like the one provided by QUIT.” “Our aim is to help create a smoke free district where the next generation understand that smoking is a normal activity and that cigarettes kill one in every two long-term smokers.” “Teenagers are making their own decision not to smoke as fewer youngsters are starting smoking than in previous generations. Hopefully they can help inform their parents and careers that it’s never to late to quit smoking.” You can contact Bradford’s stop smoking service on 01274 437700.

Salford’s 48,000 smokers urged to donate their last empty cigarette packs to unique local artwork

Sep 3, 2015 | Press Release |

Walton Oaks, UK, 29th May, 2015 – Salford smokers are being encouraged to quit smoking and donate their last empty cigarette pack to a unique art project that will raise funds for charity. The My Last Pack campaign is being launched by Pfizer in partnership with Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust on World No Tobacco Day on 31 May. The aim of the campaign is to highlight how support from healthcare professionals can help local people to successfully stop smoking.

For every empty cigarette pack received, £1 will be donated to UK charity QUIT by Pfizer. Local residents can take their packs to My Last Pack collection points at Salford Royal from 31 May and throughout June.

The empty cigarette packs will be collected and transformed into a specially commissioned work of art by local artist David Boultbee to convey the significance of quitting smoking. The My Last Pack artwork will be unveiled to the public in Salford this summer.

Salford is a national smoking hotspot, with almost a third of adults in the area confirmed as smokers in comparison to the national average of one in five adults (21%).2 East Salford in particular has been identified as having the highest level of smoking in the area, with almost half the adult population confirmed as smokers.2 The latest research suggests that those who seek help from a healthcare professional are up to four times more likely to stop smoking for good than those who try to go it alone.3

June Roberts, Assistant Director of Nursing at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust commented, “More than one in four adults smoke in Salford, many of whom will have tried several times to quit. Too often, smokers are unaware of the help available and continue to try to break free from their nicotine addiction on their own. We hope that the people of Salford will get behind this campaign and realise that they can get the stop smoking support they deserve.”

Glyn McIntosh, Chief Executive at QUIT commented, “We hope this campaign will encourage smokers in Salford to seek the professional support available and quit smoking for good,

QUIT’s Newest Guides

Jul 7, 2015 | News, Press Release |

We here at QUIT are very excited to announce the launching of two new guides aimed at helping people quit smoking. We have created a brand new guide for men entitled Dont Be a Flop QUIT: The Mens guide to smoking. In this guide we provide men with information on the affects that smoking has on both their health and personal lives, as well as provide them with valuable information on how they can go about quiting smoking. We have also updated our guide entitled So You Want To QUIT to provide people with the most up to date options for quiting smoking. Both of these guides can be acessed here.

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.