Smoking is recognised to be the single biggest cause of preventable illness and death and there exists huge inequalities in smoking prevalence and smoking related deaths.
Smoking during pregnancy can cause serious pregnancy-related health problems. These include complications during labour and an increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth, low birth-weight and sudden unexpected death in infancy
In June 2022 Dr Javed Khan published an independent review on the government’s ambitions to make England smoke free by 2030. It was found that England will miss this target by at least 7 years. It was found that in order to reach these targets England needs to accelerate the rate of decline of people who smoke by 40%.
Tobacco Control data report: Click the report tabs to explore more data around Tobacco Control in County Durham. Click on the expand button in the bottom right of the box to open in full screen mode.
Assessments and audits
In 2023 a Health Equity Audit (HEA) was carried out by Durham Council Council’s Research and Intelligence team on behalf of the Tobacco Control Alliance. A summary of the key findings and the recommendations can be found in the following three infographics. A link to the full HEA is also provided below.
Health Equity Audit: Stop Smoking Services Health Equity Audit 2023
Our strategies, plans and groups
The Health and Wellbeing Board’s Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2023-28 contains four priorities. One of these is ‘Making smoking history’. The strategy lists the following differences which we can expect to see in the life of the JLHWS (2028):
● Reduction in the number of people smoking to 5% by 2030
● Reduction in the number of hospital admission episodes for diseases related to smoking
● Continued reduction of smoking related deaths
● Reduction in the proportion of mothers smoking at time of delivery
The County Durham – Tobacco Control Alliance is the multi-agency group working together to reduce smoking rates to 5% by 2030. The infographic below shows the seven key strands of the Action Plan which directs the work of the alliance.
The County Durham – Treating Tobacco Dependency in Pregnancy Group works together to reduce smoking rates of mothers smoking at time of delivery to 0% by 2025.
Strategic assets – Tobacco Control
Strategic assets are:
- services, activities, and initiatives that we commission or grant fund for the benefit of communities across County Durham
- resources that we have available to us to support communities across County Durham such as workforce, training, or partnerships
- knowledge and insight that our communities and workforce have that they have told us about through research, consultation or other forms of engagement
- experience that our communities and workforce have of living or working in County Durham and/or services that are provided
For more information visit our Strategic assets page.
Tobacco Control strategic assets: Click the icons to explore the strategic assets identified for Tobacco Control in County Durham. Click on the expand button in the bottom right of the box to open in full screen mode
The evidence base
NICE Guidance 209: Tobacco: preventing uptake, promoting quitting and treating dependence
The Khan review: making smoking obsolete
Other relevant links
- Local Tobacco Control Profiles, Fingertips, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID)
- ASH – Action on Smoking and Health
- LG Inform: Tobacco Control (Expenditure)
The documents we publish on this page are either legally required to be made available for inspection, for information and analysis purposes or may have been supplied by the public and so in some cases may not be fully accessible. If, for any reason, you cannot access the documents and need an alternative format, please email ina@durham.gov.uk.