Smoking and Tobacco Control

Smoking and Tobacco Control

Smoking remains the greatest cause of ill-health and early death in Nottingham city. Significantly reducing smoking prevalence will improve health outcomes and work to reduce poverty across the city.

A reduction of the number of smokers in Nottingham city should also support lead TO:

Higher levels of productivity

Babies and children getting a better start in life

A reduction in health and social care costs

Crime by dealing with the illegal tobacco trade going down

It is estimated that smoking costs Nottingham about £137M every year. This includes £115M in lost productivity, £12M in healthcare costs, and £6.82M in costs to social care.

There are other costs of tobacco use too. Cigarettes and other smoking materials are one of the leading causes of fatal accidental fires in homes. Furthermore, cigarette butts make up a significant amount of litter items, with the majority of cigarette filters being non-biodegradable and thus have a lasting environmental impact.

We will also consider shisha, a tobacco-based product that is smoked through a water bowl. There are a number of health issues regarding shisha use. A common misconception is that smoking shisha is healthier than smoking cigarettes – there is a lack of understanding about the harm smoking shisha can cause.

Evidence suggests that there are significant levels of cannabis use among people who classify themselves as ‘non-smokers’ and a significant proportion of tobacco smokers who also smoke cannabis weekly. Long term smokers of cannabis have an increased risk of many of the same diseases that tobacco smokers do. As such, we have decided to consider cannabis smoking within scope for this strategy.

If you are a Nottingham city resident and would like help to stop smoking. Contact the Stub-it team.

• Web: ncgpa.org.uk/stub-it 
• Tel: 0115 824 0583 (option 2)
• Email: ncgpa.stubit@nhs.net

How will we know we have made a difference?

We will use the Public Health Outcomes Framework indicators on income and earnings, employment, education and training and fuel poverty.

We will also use Public Health Outcomes Framework indicators on the proportion of adults who smoke, the proportion of 15 year olds who are regular smokers, and smoking status at time of delivery. In addition to data collected via the annual population survey, local data on the proportion of adults who smoke is also collected via the citizen’s survey.

We will also work with partners to share local data on the number of smokers achieving a 4 week quit-rate as a whole and by provider to ensure opportunities to learn from best practice. Local data on enforcement and actions taken to tackle illicit tobacco will also be sought.

Read about our other programmes of work…