Smoking JSNA

What is being done and why

Nationally

Stopping the Start: Our New Plan to Create a Smokefree Generation22

The UK government’s latest strategy which outlines:

  • Smokefree Generation Legislation: Children turning 14 in 2023 or younger will never legally be sold tobacco products.
  • Funding Boost: An additional £70 million annually for stop smoking services, aiming to help 360,000 people quit each year.
  • National Campaigns: £5 million in 2024 and £15 million annually thereafter for public awareness campaigns.
  • Swap to Stop Scheme: Supporting 1 million smokers to switch to vaping, which is considered significantly less harmful than smoking.
  • Youth Vaping Controls: Measures to curb marketing and access to vapes among children (DHSC Love your Lungs campaign aimed to reach the youth population via social media).

Regionally

The North East has a strong collaborative tobacco control framework:

NE Tobacco Commissioners Network

A regional peer network supported by the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID), focusing on equitable service design and reducing health inequalities23.

Tobacco Commissioners Programme Board

A regional network focusing on progressing the regional offer in order to expand the digital smoking cessation offer regionally.

Fresh Programme

The UK’s first regional tobacco control programme, launched in 2005. It has helped halve adult smoking rates from 29% to 13.1%23.

There are 8 key strands of work Fresh have centred around and these key strands also form the basis of the Tobacco Control Strategy Action Plan in Hartlepool:

  • Building infrastructure, skills and capacity
  • Advocacy for evidence based policy
  • Reducing exposure to tobacco smoke
  • Year round media, communications and education
  • Supporting smokers to stop and stay stopped
  • Raise price and reduce the illicit trade
  • Tobacco and nicotine regulation
  • Data, research and public opinion

NENC ICS Taskforce24

A multi-strand approach to tobacco dependency treatment, including:

  • Onsite treatment services
  • Support for NHS staff to quit
  • Targeted interventions for people with severe mental illness

Locally

Hartlepool Borough Council have adopted a community-based integrated model:

  • Tailored Support: NCSCT Very Brief Advice delivered by trained staff including school nurses, health visitors, family support workers and other partners. CO validation is also used by the 0-19 service25.
  • Community offer: 12 week support programme and free Swap 2 Stop vape kit delivered by trained staff and partners, including Community Navigators, START, Social Prescribers and Thirteen Housing.
  • Evidence-Based Approach: Combines brief interventions with e-cigarette use, which has proven effective in quit attempts25.
  • New Commissioned Service: Delivered by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and Hartlepool & Stockton Health5. The service offers tailored support alongside the option of e-cigarettes, NRT and varenicline.
  • Services delivered in Community Hubs: Located in the north, centre, and south of Hartlepool to increase accessibility.
  • Digital & Helpline Support: Includes access to NHS Smokefree apps, websites, and helplines.