Celebrating London Smoke Free Pregnancy Week
20 Nov 2024
London’s first Smoke Free Pregnancy Week is happening this week, from 18th – 22nd November, to raise awareness of the risks of smoking in pregnancy. At the Whittington we have recently started running Maternity’s own specific clinic to help our pregnant service users to quit smoking. Since implementing this clinic in June, our success rate for those quitting after 4 weeks of support has increased to 71%! Read the full story for more about smoke free pregnancy and how to get support.
Full story
London’s first Smoke Free Pregnancy Week is running this week from 18th – 22nd November to raise awareness of the risks of smoking in pregnancy. This week’s promotion is run by the London Tobacco Alliance, who are a group of local authorities, directors of public health, healthcare professionals, sector experts, volunteers, councillors, politicians and advisors – coming together with a strategic aim to make London smokefree by 2030.
Stopping smoking is the single best thing you can do for your health and that of your baby. We know that stopping smoking can be hard, but you don’t have to do it on your own. There’s lots of support available to give you the help you need to give up cigarettes.
Stopping smoking is the single best thing you can do for your health and that of your baby. We know that stopping smoking can be hard, but you don’t have to do it on your own. There’s lots of support available to give you the help you need to give up cigarettes.
Three top tips to help you to stop smoking when you are pregnant:
1. Get the right support in place
2. Use stop smoking tools: Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) or vapes
3. Know your smoking triggers
At the Whittington we have recently started running Maternity’s own specific clinic to help our pregnant service users to quit smoking. The Tobacco Dependency Clinic is run by Wendy, our in-house specialist advisor, who can help support you at any stage of your pregnancy. Statistically you are three times more likely to successfully quit smoking if you use Nicotine Replacement Therapy and have specialist support.
Since implementing this clinic in June, our success rate for those quitting after 4 weeks of support has increased to 71%! This means we are giving our pregnant smokers and their babies, the best chance of a good outcome. Well done to Wendy and the team for all your hard work!
The service has been positively received by its users:
“It is impossible to explain my feelings with the right words. Meeting Wendy during my pregnancy was a very valuable experience for me… Thank you again for everything.”
“It is impossible to explain my feelings with the right words. Meeting Wendy during my pregnancy was a very valuable experience for me… Thank you again for everything.”
If you are booked at the Whittington, are pregnant and need help to stop smoking, please speak to your Midwife who can refer you to our Tobacco Dependency Clinic or email Wendy on whh-tr.maternitytds@nhs.net.