People often struggle to break down smoking related myths either because they aren’t aware of the facts or don’t know how to convey them effectively.

Staff who work in the NHS and Councils across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland organised a recent conference and invited representatives from various agencies across the county, to discuss different approaches to reduce the harms of tobacco.

The event, called ‘Lost for Words’ was held at the Highpoint Conference Centre in Leicester. Delegates attended from a wide range of organisations including the Sure Start Children’s Centres, the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and people from community and hospital health services. The main aim of the day was to provide simple and easy to remember facts to use when debating tobacco related issues.

Hilary Wareing
Co-Director of the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre

“We work nationally supporting the Tobacco Control workforce to work more effectively, particularly around certain areas, like mental health, smoking in pregnancy and with young people.

“Today, we’ve talked about the role of the state in helping us change behaviour, particularly from the perspective of the new coalition government. Also, we’ve been talking about being more innovative to help people stop smoking. We’re trying to look at how people live and be more supportive.

“A lot of people here today don’t work in the Stop Smoking Service, they’re working in Sure Start Centres, or perhaps in maternity services and hospitals, and we’re talking to them about how they can encourage people to stop smoking.”

Govind Mandora
Health and Safety Department, Leicester City Council

“I look after a team of Environmental Health Officers dealing with commercial premises and we make sure that they comply with the smoke free legislation, both in terms of signage and ensuring that enclosed areas are smoke free. We visit premises, inspect them and investigate complaints from the public.

“We’ve got an issue with sheesha water pipes which are on the increase in Leicester with sheesha cafés coming to the fore. We are looking to get the message out that sheesha isn’t a healthy alternative to smoking.”

Lauren Ahyow
Specialist Registrar in Public Health, NHS Leicestershire County and Rutland

“As a commissioning organisation we look at services across Leicestershire, taking a lead from national strategy. We then ensure we commission for the needs of the population, so our role is very much about assessing need, and where the problem areas are, both geographically and demographically. It’s about targeting services appropriately and making sure people have access to them.

“It’s not just about stopping smoking, tackling tobacco is about prevention as well, so we partner with Healthy Schools, Trading Standards and other organisations to bring together a comprehensive programme of work, which is focused around preventing young people from starting smoking.

“We want to support communities through policy and legislation. This event brings representatives from all of the areas together. We do many different jobs but one of the things we’re passionate about is ensuring that preventable deaths and diseases are reduced.”

Victoria Smith
Health Improvement Officer, Blaby District Council

“I cover all aspects of health from cradle to grave and smoking is a massive determinant of ill health in the Blaby District. I run promotional campaigns throughout the year and two stop smoking clinics.

“This event has been really useful, such as hearing from Hilary from the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre about what they’re doing, especially when hearing about the different ways Nicotine Replacement Therapy can be used and how versatile it is.

“It’s interesting to hear about the misconceptions around smoking. When you’re trying to help someone stop you get a lot of people saying things like they know someone who smoked until they were 90 and they’re fine.”

Karen Pickering
Community Health Development Coordinator for the Saffron area, NHS Leicester City

“My remit covers a broad spectrum but one of the major issues is that 42.3% of people in Saffron smoke, which is amongst the highest rates in Leicester and we are trying various different ways of dealing with it but doing it through the volunteer programme works the best. We’ve only just started but we’ve got a band of about 15 volunteers who we’ve trained to work in the local community.

“In the conference, people have been discussing concentrating services to where they are needed. In my experience in recent years that doesn’t always happen because people are quite guarded and smoking cessation is a controversial topic.

“The use of illicit tobacco – smuggled and counterfeit – is important to understand. People are smoking cheap cigarettes that contain all sorts of stuff, not just the 4,000 chemicals in regular cigarettes but floor-sweepings and worse.”

If you want to find out what’s available locally, either for yourself, if you want to stop smoking, or for free training at work on how your team can help to reduce smoking rates in Leicester, call the STOP! team on 0116 295 4141.