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Information embargoed until midnight on Sunday 25 June 2006
NORTH EAST SHARES ITS STOP SMOKING BEST PRACTICES
Stop smoking experts from around the world are gathering in Gateshead today (26th June) for the annual UK Smoking Cessation Conference and practitioners from the North East will be sharing their innovative ideas and good practice.
The North East has the best track record within England in helping smokers quit, with stop smoking figures (i.e. 4 week quitters) around 15 per cent higher than many other regions. These services are vital to reduce the region’s health problems with around 6000 adults dying prematurely every year because of smoking.
Over 2,500 highly trained professionals are involved in the north-east NHS Stop Smoking Services and are contributing, alongside a wide range of other activities, towards reducing smoking in the region from 27 per cent of the population to 21 per cent by 2010.
Ailsa Rutter, Director of FRESH says, “Our stop smoking services in the North East are some of the best in the country, and have achieved a huge amount over the last six years. The Services are now thinking about new approaches, new techniques, and better use of medications such as nicotine replacement therapy to encourage smokers to quit.”
A hot topic at the conference is the use of nicotine, in the form of nicotine replacement products, being recommended for use by smokers, whilst still smoking, in an attempt to help them quit. Professor John Hughes, visiting from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont, USA, says his latest research (1) shows that smoking reduction helped by nicotine replacement therapy can work when other strategies have failed and it can help those frustrated by motivational attempts.
Dr Ann McNeill, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London, supports Professor Hughes by pointing out that if nicotine can be offered to smokers in forms such as NRT, which prevent inhalation of the lethal chemical compounds in the smoke, this could be a positive way forward. As she stresses, “There is still huge misunderstanding that nicotine causes cancer, but it is the other components of cigarette smoke that do the real damage.”
Whilst some argue that offering nicotine is simply perpetuating an addiction and total abstinence would be better, for many smokers this is not an option. This is particularly true in deprived and disadvantaged groups and amongst those with mental health issues, where there is greater dependence on nicotine.
Talks by stop smoking advisers in the North East cover topics at the UK Smoking Cessation Conference on issues such as support for prisoners, pregnant women and young people to quit, running drop in clinics in local communities and the support available from local pharmacists.
Ailsa Rutter believes that the conference is a great opportunity to inspire stop-smoking advisers in the North East to think about new strategies and the way forward, taking into account the possible implications of the new smoke-free legislation due next summer.
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Editors notes:
- The UK National Smoking Cessation Conference (UKNSCC) is the world’s largest annual gathering of smoking cessation practitioners. Held at the Sage Gateshead conference centre, this year, it runs over two days – Monday 26 June and Tuesday 27 June. Every year the conference attracts speakers from Europe, the US and New Zealand.
For more information visit www.uknscc.org
- (1) Carpenter M, Hughes J, Solomon L, Callas P, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 2004 Vol 72. No. 3. 371-381
- FRESH, Smoke Free North East is a coalition of health bodies and local organisations, including all the primary care trusts and local authorities in the region, reaching from Berwick in the north to Redcar and Cleveland in the south. Some of its work is delivered at a local level, out in the towns and villages of the North East.
- Speakers are available for interviews and filming.
Press Enquiries:
For press enquiries please call Victoria Lush Tel. 01730 825103
Mobile 07919 194217. Victoria@vlush.free-online.co.uk
Or
Sally Pearson at Robson Brown sallyp@robson-brown.co.uk
Tel 0191 244 6656.
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