Community support helps Sheffield neighbourhoods to stub it out
19th August 2009
In the last year 64% more people have successfully quit smoking in a number of communities in Sheffield, thanks to the help of specialist stop smoking advisors in their local communities.
In October 2007 NHS Sheffield unleashed a ‘stop smoking task force’ into 14 neighbourhoods with high levels of smoking prevalence with the aim of increasing the number of people asking the stop smoking service for help and increasing the number of successful quitters.
The 14 neighbourhoods were selected as they are part of NHS Sheffield’s Enhanced Public Health Programme (EPHP), which aims to improve health and address health inequalities across Sheffield. Smoking prevalence in some of these areas is also as high as 42%, compared to other parts of the city where as few as 12% people smoke.
Gina Harris, Community Stop Smoking lead at NHS Sheffield said: “We recognised that there are a number of barriers stopping people in some neighbourhoods seeking advice to quit, and the stop smoking task force deals with some of these main barriers. The advisors run ‘stop smoking sessions’ in areas in the community that are easy to access for everybody, and at times that are more appropriate for people.
“It is proving to be very successful – in these target areas 49% more people are going to stop smoking sessions and successful quits are up 64%.”
Lisa Harman Stop Smoking Advisor for Southey Green and Parson Cross said: “It has been really successful running the sessions in the neighbourhoods because people feel more comfortable in their own surroundings. Obviously people in these neighbourhoods do want to stop; they just wanted some support closer to home. The support group I run in Parson Cross proves this as attendance is up 45% on last year, and quitters are up by 123% – that’s 48 more people in parson Cross that have quit smoking this year with our support.”
Smokers who would like to give up smoking can contact the NHS Stop Smoking Service 24 hours a day on free phone 0800 068 4490 for help and support.
