Agenda item

Ms S Sverdloff (Community Stop Smoking Advisor) and Ms A Longden attended the meeting and gave a presentation on the current position with regard to the Smoking Cessation Initiative which included an overview of the project, the current performance against the set targets, the developments that had taken place as well as the aims for the future.

The presentation gave details of the following:

·         Smoking prevalence for adults over 18 in the North East Area with comparisons to Barnsley as a whole.  It was noted that just over one in four adults in the North East Area were smokers.  This was consistently higher than the rates for Barnsley during the period 2014 to 2016, however the current rate of 25.5% was the lowest ever since 2013

·         Contract performance from November 2021 to date.  Difficulties had been encountered because of the lockdowns which meant there was limited opportunity to promote the service, however, targets were now largely already being hit and were likely to be exceeded.  In relation to registrations into the service it was noted that there had been an increase between 2020 and 2022

·         Information was provided about the 4-week quit rate.  This indicated that 69% had quit, 16% and not quit and 15% had been lost to follow up

·         With the exception of December 2021, the 12-week quit rate was in the middle to high 70%’s

·         Development Work included SCIP visits engaging with, amongst others, GP’s and pharmacies, attendance at various events, Service Promotion via social media and various training events

·         Going forward the service would

o   Continue to develop and work towards the Key Performance Indicators

o   Continue to work towards the governments smokefree agenda

o   Identify new areas for development

o   Continue with Lung Heath Checks

·         The Khan Review had been published in June 2022.  An examination of this indicated that without continued intervention the target of making England Smoke Free by 2030 would be missed by an estimated 7 years with the poorest areas in society not expected to meet the target until 2044.  It was clear, therefore, that to truly ‘level up’ health and wealth, the government would need to tackle the crippling burden that smoking had on the most disadvantaged communities

The presentation concluded by giving members details of the very positive feedback received to the initiative.

In the ensuing discussion, the following matters were highlighted:

·         The Area Council Manager reported that the Stop Smoking Outreach Service was now to be funded centrally until at least October 2023 and there was, therefore, no need to consider the proposal within the Procurement and Financial Update report to be considered later in the meeting, to provide part funding for the Stop Smoking Advisor.  This proposal was very much welcomed

·         It was noted that support from the service would also be provided for the users of e-cigarettes

·         Whilst the service had continued throughout the Covid pandemic largely via telephone consultation, it was pleasing to be able to reinstate ‘normal’ service delivery

·         Comparative statistical for the North East Area with the rest of the Borough could be provided

·         It was noted that the Salvation Army was to provide a drop-in session once a fortnight and if anyone wanted to become involved with this or any other group they should contact Sarah Sverdloff direct

RESOLVED that Ms S Sverdloff and Ms Longden be thanked for their presentation, for attending the meeting and for answering Members questions.