PCRS welcomes government’s smoke-free 2030 ambition

The Government has set a goal of a ‘smoke-free’ England by 2030 in a new health prevention Green Paper.

This paper is the start of a more detailed consultation process, to which PCRS will be contributing.

The Government admits that this ambition is ‘extremely challenging’. The Green Paper says: “The gains in tobacco control have been hard-won, and there's still much to do. For the 14% of adults who are not yet smoke-free, smoking is the leading cause of ill-health and early death, and a major cause of inequalities. That's why the Government wants to finish the job.”

Although smoking rates are falling overall, they remain stubbornly high in certain groups, including: in areas of deprivation, among manual workers and social renters, people who identify as LGBT and people living with mental health conditions.

Proposals include:

• All smokers who are admitted to hospital should be offered support to stop smoking
• Tobacco companies should be required to pay towards the cost of tobacco control
• An investigation into the possibility of inserts in tobacco products giving quitting advice
• Launching a call for independent evidence to assess how effective heated tobacco products are in helping people quit smoking.  The evidence on e-cigarettes will be kept under review.
• Plans to discourage young people from starting smoking

These measures were submitted by Bob Blackman MP, the Chair of the APPG on Smoking and Health, supported by ASH and endorsed by 16 other leading health organisations, including PCRS.

PCRS Executive Chair Noel Baxter says:  “The ambition in this Green Paper is strong and laudable but currently the resource and detail on the proposed actions is weak. In particular the part about detecting and treating all people admitted to hospital as smokers (already pledged in the NHS Long Term Plan as Ottawa model) needs to be supported by clarity on funding to enable primary care networks (PCNs) to take over after patients are discharged.

“The Government needs to support the new health and social care integrated structures to feel more empowered to work together and engage in delivering this smoke free 2030 aspiration.” 

Don’t wait for Government action:

• Use the PCRS Guide to Managing Tobacco Dependency to start helping your patients to quit now. 
• Attend a smoking cessation techniques hands-on session at the PCRS Respiratory Conference 2019