New family stop smoking service to make more Worcestershire homes ‘smoke free'
Any family member living with a child under three years old in Worcestershire can now get expert support to stop smoking.
Smoke Free Homes is a new service to help people quit smoking. It’s available to mums, dads, carers, in fact anyone who lives with a child under the age of three in Worcestershire.
Over 80% of cigarette smoke is invisible and the best thing you can do to protect you and your family from the harms of second-hand smoke is to quit smoking.
You don’t have to give up alone. This friendly service will help with:
- Free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)
- 1:1 support with a trained advisor to help you quit and stay on track
- Joint family support sessions if preferred
Louise Langston, Clinical Service Manager for Starting Well Partnership said: “It’s fantastic to offer dedicated support to family members with young children who want to stop smoking. The effects of second-hand smoking on babies and children can be really serious and we hope this new service helps many more homes to become ‘smoke free’.”
Councillor Karen May, Cabinet Member with responsibility for health and wellbeing said: “Quitting smoking is one of the best things you will ever do for your health and the health of your family. Stopping smoking also saves you a lot of money. Someone who smokes 10 cigarettes a day would save over £2,300 a year by quitting.
“With encouraging support from experts and free nicotine replacement therapy, it’s more likely that you will quit for good. I would urge everyone with a young family to seize this opportunity and sign up to the Smoke Free Homes service.”
Parents can sign up for the new service by emailing: Whcnhs.smokefreehomes@nhs.net to get an appointment. You can also find out more on the Starting Well Partnership website.
Smoke Free Homes is part of the Starting Well Partnership which provides support to parents, families, children, and young people to live happy, healthy, and fulfilled lives across Worcestershire. The partnership works alongside lots of local organisations and community groups including schools and GP surgeries. Identifying and addressing health and wellbeing needs, by empowering families and young people to access support networks and groups in the local community.
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Notes:
Led by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, the Starting Well Partnership brings together Barnardo’s, Action for Children and Redditch Borough Council to support ‘parents to be’ and their children during the early years and as they move through school towards adulthood.
According to the Office of National Statistics, the average price of 20 king size filter cigarettes in October 2022 was £12.72. If someone smoked 10 cigarettes a day, this would cost £2,321.40 a year. SOURCE: RPI: Ave price - Cigarettes 20 king size filter - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)