The new Government: plans for the NHS

It is hard to avoid news on reforms being made by the new coalition Government and a White Paper has now been published setting out the long term strategy for the NHS. Whilst exact plans for smoking cessation remain unclear, there are some clues both in the White Paper and also in the contents of a recent speech on public health by Andrew Langsley (the Secretary of State for Health).

 The White Paper, entitled “Equity & Excellence: Liberating the NHS”, talks about protection of public health budgets and the transferral of health promotion duties to Local Authorities. You can read it here 

 The speech talked about “Health Premiums” targeting public health funding to the areas with the most need and change in monitoring to focus more on outcomes. You can read it here  

Ramadan stop smoking campaign

We are running a campaign before, during and after Ramadan to help Muslim smokers quit during this period. Three specialist advice services will be available along with a text back facility in Arabic, Farsi, Somali and Urdu. More details available here. We will also be doing outreach promotion outside mosques every Friday.

We also have posters and leaflets available, if you’d like some please contact bushra.hussain@kick-it.org.uk

 Youth programme

There have been lots of exciting developments in our youth programme recently, which we have branded “Kick-Butt!” You can see the logo at www.kickbutt.org.uk

The slogan accompanying the logo, “youth vs big tobacco” addresses a key theme in smoking prevention, which is to increase young people’s awareness of the manipulative, underhand tactics employed by global tobacco companies in their aggressive recruitment of child smokers.  Both the logo and the slogan also encourage youth to take a stand against this unethical practice.

There is also now a “youth file” available for stop smoking advisors. This file contains advice on how to engage young people more effectively in smoking cessation work as well as general education on key smoking issues.  It also includes a variety of effective activities and exercises that you can engage young people in during quit sessions. Please feel free to try these ‘youth activities’ on your adult quitters as well, as everyone seems to respond well to a more interactive approach. If you would like this file sent to you then please email toby.fairs-billam@kick-it.org.uk

Polish Service

As you may know, Hammersmith & Fulham has a large Polish population. On Sunday 4th July 2010 Poland had a presidential election, where the liberal candidate won over the conservative-populist by a slight majority of votes. Good news for Kick It as we used the opportunity to do outreach outside the polling station at the Polish Cultural Centre on King Street. The team signed up 12 of these voters for our Polish stop smoking clinic. For more information on this or any further Polish related events please contact simon.nadolski@kick-it.org.uk or consult Kick It’s Polish web pages at www.rzucam-palenie.co.uk 

Smoking in Pregnancy

It is well known that smoking in pregnancy is harmful to the unborn child and can also cause problems in the period following child birth. Around 7% of pregnant women in Hammersmith & Fulham continue to smoke throughout their pregnancy, lower than the national average but still an alarming figure. The good news is that we have a specialist midwife advisor working in Queen Charlotte’s maternity unit who provides specialist quit advice to pregnant smokers. If you have any pregnant clients that would benefit from the help of our midwife advisor Ory Bolooki please contact Kick It on 020 8741 8314.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have recently published guidance entitled “Quitting smoking in pregnancy and following childbirth”, advisors who are interested in the guidance can read it here

 Unlicensed Cigarette Replacement Products

Some local shops are selling a product called “Nico-time Hand Gel”, a cigarette replacement gel which is rubbed into the hands. The product contains mysterious ingredients such as liquified tobacco, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, guar gum and xanyhan gum! If any of you clients mention they are using this product please discourage them and let them know that the product is not licensed and nothing known about its safety or efficacy.

….and Finally  

Some smoking cessation related quotes:

“Quitting is not that tough, I myself have stopped hundreds of times” (American author Mark Twain)

“Everybody smokes! Models, actresses, everyone! Don’t they realize that it’s gross? I understand it’s an addiction, but it still pains me to see my friends do it.” (actress Kirsten Dunst)

“Fortunately, there’s more than one way to quit smoking . . . the catch is you must choose wisely to become smoke-free.” (author Arthur A Hawkins)