vision
16
www.northeastvision.co.uk
north east
Healthcare and
Life Sciences
14-year-old Jamie Caffery from
Washington said: "I smoke 10 a
day and buy them with my pocket
money. I can't play football because
I get out of breath really
quickly. Fags should be out
of sight in shops. It's too
tempting when they're
next to the sweets."
Keeping up pressure
on our biggest killer
FRESH
W
HEN Fresh, Smoke Free
North East won the gold
medal at the inaugural
Chief Medical Officer's
Public Health Awards 2009 for work in
tackling smoking, it was heralded as a
great tribute to the work of everyone in
the region involved in addressing the
region's biggest killer.
But now, even after the North East has
witnessed the biggest regional reduction
in smoking nationwide, it is more
important than ever that the visions
contained in the region's health and
wellbeing strategy `Better Health, Fairer
Health' remain at the forefront of policy.
Out of 147 initial entries to the CMO
Awards, a grilling by a panel of experts, a
short film to showcase the work in the
North East and the submission of a wide
range of testimonials in support of the
programme, Sir Liam Donaldson
announced that Fresh had achieved the
Gold Award at a prestigious ceremony in
June 2009.
The judging panel felt that Fresh was an
"excellent example of a well-coordinated
and effective public health partnership
approach to tackling a hugely important
public health challenge."
Sir Liam said: "It is clear to me that
public health practice in England today is
flourishing. Public health is often an
under-recognised part of our healthcare
systems.
"I hope that these awards will give an
opportunity to shine a light on the
individuals and teams who work so hard
to improve the health of the nation."
The North East had the biggest
reduction in smoking nationwide between
2005 and 2007, from 29% of people
smoking to around 22% � a drop of around
135,000 smokers � by the time England
introduced smoke-free legislation in
workplaces in 2007.
Fresh was the UK's first Regional Office
for Tobacco Control and works with many
partners to deliver a comprehensive
programme to reduce smoking rates - to
help the 70% of smokers who want to quit,
to protect non-smokers from the lethal
effects of secondhand smoke and to help
to turn off the tap of new smokers; the
vast majority of whom start in childhood.
The success of Fresh has also been used
as a basis for establishing the UK's first
Regional Office for Alcohol, with the North
East leading the way with the launch of
Balance in February 2009.
Cigarettes will continue to kill half of all
their long term users and up to half the
difference in life expectancy between the
most and least affluent communities in
the North East is due to smoking. This
remains a key priority for action region
wide.
As the NHS enters a challenging
economic climate and even more than
ever needs to demonstrate effectiveness of
its programmes, the Fresh programme
represents a solid and effective foundation
for the future.
Key priorities for the next few years will
be take effective action on the trade in
illicit tobacco which is maintaining
addiction to this lethal product and
encouraging new smokers � children � to
start. Packets of cigarettes at half the
official retail price are being sold in our
poorest estates and this is a real public
health issue and is not the `Robin Hood'
crime which is sometimes depicted.
Working with colleagues in the North
West and Yorkshire and the Humber, Fresh
is leading a world first programme to
address this.
Protecting our children from tobacco
promotion and marketing � through
forthcoming measures such as the ban on
the retail display of tobacco products �
will also be vital to our efforts as will
continued work to build on the success to
date and to shift the social norms around
smoking through effective media and
communications campaigns. The NHS role
to support smokers to quit and build on
the success of the last ten years, when the
local NHS stop smoking services in the
North East helped 175,000 smokes to quit,
will continue to be vital.
The region needs to do this and
maintain the momentum on tackling
tobacco if we are to continue to improve
health and well-being and tackle health
inequalities. The public increasingly
expects and wants this action as they have
witnessed the appalling toll and legacy
that the tobacco companies, through their
lethal product, have left the region We
know also that tackling tobacco works � as
shown by examples such as the 17% drop
in acute heart attack admissions to
hospitals following the introduction of
comprehensive smoke-free legislation.
Through this continued commitment
and successful partnership approach, the
North East region will ultimately achieve
its vision and "make smoking history for
our children".
From left, Catherine McConnell, Pam Tarn and Ailsa Rutter (director) of Fresh; England's chief medical officer Sir Liam
Donaldson; Coun Nick Forbes, chair of the North East Tobacco RAG; Melanie Laws from Association of North East Councils and
Judith MacMorran, senior health promotion specialist from Newcastle Primary Care Trust.

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