The Tobacco Control Plan for England (2011), which was published in 2011, set out a strategy to reduce smoking prevalence and announced a number of targets to be achieved by 2015. A specific target was included for reducing smoking during pregnancy from 14% in 2009/10 to less than 11% by the end of 2015.
NICE Guidelines (2010)recommend various actions that can be taken to encourage pregnant women to stop smoking.
The Smoking Status at Time of Delivery (SATOD) collection is published on a quarterly basis to monitor the prevalence of smoking in pregnancy. This is shown at a Clinical Commissioning Group and Area Team level. This data is then also used to estimate annual prevalence rates at a Local Authority level for inclusion in the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
The 2014/15 Q2 data for England shows that 11.5% of pregnant women were known to be smokers at the time of delivery. This had fallen from 11.7% for the same quarter in 2013/14 and from 12.0% for the previous year (2013-14).
All health professionals such as GPs, practice nurses and midwives, who come into contact with pregnant women who smoke, should provide support and encouragement to help them quit smoking. Some of the other recommended actions include:-
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Ensure services meet the needs of disadvantaged pregnant women who smoke, including collaboration with agencies who support women with complex needs, such as substance misuse services, teenage pregnancy support and mental health services
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Training should be provided to relevant professionals, namely midwives, on delivering stop smoking interventions to pregnant women. All other relevant professionals should be trained on how to deliver brief interventions to initiate a referral to stop smoking services The Berkshire Tobacco Control Alliance team are made up of Public Health and Public Protection Officers from the six Berkshire Unitary Authorities- Bracknell, Reading Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM), Slough, West Berkshire and Wokingham as well as members from Berkshire Stop Smoking Service-presently Solutions for Health, Service Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue, Thames Valley Police and HM Revenue and Customs
The Berkshire Tobacco Control Action Plan sets out a clear vision for tobacco harm reduction. This consists of targets and aspirations aimed at:
The plan is currently in development, a link will provided as soon as it is completed.