Smoking survivors, clinicians and public health leaders from Humber and North Yorkshire are continuing to lobby MPs for a change in the law that would see new restrictions on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
A delegation – coordinated by the Humber and North Yorkshire Centre for Excellence in Tobacco Control – travelled to Westminster to share their experiences of the harms caused by smoking with MPs who are part of an all-party parliamentary group with an interest in tobacco control.
As the delegation was meeting MPs in London, back home, local NHS organisations launched We Need to Talk – a four-week conversation with people through social media and in-person focus groups about the future of the NHS in our area.
As part of the conversation, we’re asking people about their lifestyles and how motivated people might be to make positive changes to improve their own health and wellbeing and in doing so, reduce some of the pressure that’s put on the NHS through ill health that’s preventable.
There’s more information about We Need to Talk – including links to an in-depth survey, at www.ournhs.org
Councillor Linda Chambers, portfolio holder at Hull City Council for Adult Services and Public Health, lost her husband to cardiovascular disease caused by smoking. She believes more can be done to “prevent children from ever picking up that first cigarette” and the “harm, destruction and death caused by tobacco”.
“One in four people come into hospital because of smoking related illness, they’re trapped in an addiction that’s damaging them,” she said. “Not only does it cut years off people’s lives, but it also costs the NHS millions of pounds in treating the harms caused by tobacco.”
Gillian Cunningham, a member of the tobacco dependency treatment team in York and Scarborough Hospital who was one of those who travelled to London to meet MPs, said: “We have to phase smoking out and do everything we can to protect future generations from getting stuck in the cycle of harm.”
Gillian comes from a family who have been severely affected by tobacco, with her dad suffering a heart attack and the tragic loss of her mum to lung cancer.
She finally managed to quit, and now uses her experience, compassion and understanding to support hospital in-patients and expectant parents to stop smoking.
She added: “I have been there, I know how hard it is to stop, even when you know it’s making you ill – you feel powerless to a lethal product. I was 11 when I started smoking and diagnosed with stage 4 COPD at 38.
“I am passionate about helping other people understand there is a way out of this debilitating addiction. Unless you’ve experienced being dependant on tobacco, it’s very hard to understand the control that it has over your life.”
Another attendee, Paul Brittain; a research nurse from York, managed to quit using a vape and support from his local stop smoking service. After 34 years of smoking, he has now been tobacco free for two years and was keen to share the pivotal role that a vape played in helping him to remove harmful tobacco from his life.
Dr Stuart Baugh, Chest Physician at Scunthorpe General Hospital also attended to share his experience of seeing and treating patients who have suffered harm from tobacco. Dr Baugh also leads the targeted lung health check programme across the Humber and North Yorkshire region.
The event was organised in conjunction with Action on Smoking and Health, to raise the profile for the reintroduction of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill into parliament, which has had strong regional support since the initial proposal by the previous government in October 2023.
It proposed raising the age of sale of tobacco by one year, every year, so that those born after 1 January 2009 will never legally be able to buy it. Currently, the age of sale is 18.
The bill also proposed more regulation on nicotine containing products, especially vapes. Suggestions are that vape flavours may be reduced to a limited number and in plain packaging, to reduce their appeal to children.
The bill would ban tobacco sales to the next generation, whilst not penalising those who can currently buy cigarettes and have an addiction.
Attendees were pleased to hear from Andrew Gwynne, Minister for Public Health and Prevention that the bill will appear back in Parliament “very soon”.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and cancer, and the bill would have significant impact across the Humber and North Yorkshire region, which covers Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, York, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire; areas which have some of the highest rates of smoking in the UK, compared to national averages.
Tobacco is responsible for 2,541 premature deaths each year in the region – that’s seven lives lost every single day – along with 18,494 hospital admissions [1] to treat smoking related illnesses.
It is never too late to stop smoking and improve your health, finances and future and there is free support and access to stop smoking medication for everyone. Just search Stoptober to check out your choices.