Dudley Strategy for Tackling Health Inequalities 2010-15

Smoking Prevalence TargetsA new Tobacco Control Strategy for England – A Smokefree Future was released inFebruary 2010 (Great Britain. Department of Health, 2010a), by the then government,which outlined challenging aspirations to further reduce smoking rates.The Smoke Free Futures vision contained three overarching objectives:1. To stop the inflow of young people recruited as smokers.Aspiring to reduce the 11–15-year-old smoking rate to 1% or less,and the rate among 16 and 17-year-olds to 8% by 2020.2. To motivate and assist every smoker to quit.Aspiring to reduce adult smoking rates to 10% or less, and halvesmoking rates for routine and manual workers, among pregnantwomen and within the most disadvantaged areas by 2020.3. To protect our families and communities from tobacco-related harm.Aspiring to increase to two-thirds the proportion of homes whereparents smoke but that are entirely smokefree indoors by 2020.It is unclear at this stage whether the new coalition government will continue withthese aspirations and we await confirmation in the Public Health White Paper due tobe released in December 2010.Tobacco Control in DudleyA considerable amount of action on tobacco control has been underway in Dudleyfor many years. A Tobacco Control Strategy for Dudley was developed in 2007 –Creating a „Smokefree Generation‟ - which outlines a local partnership approach andkey priorities to provide children and young people in Dudley a fair chance to growup in a smokefree environment where smoking is not seen as the norm.The strategy was developed by the Tobacco Action Group (TAG) in line with theDepartment of Health‟s six strand approach. It set out a clear three year action planand monitoring framework from 2007-10. The group reports regularly to the DudleyHealth and Wellbeing Partnership. The strategy will be reviewed and updated inview of the new national Tobacco Strategy and Public Health White Paper due out inDecember 2010.Dudley also takes the lead in co-ordinating the Black Country Tobacco ControlAlliance (BCTCA), which facilitates a more strategic approach to tobacco controlactivities across the four Black Country boroughs through partnership working,sharing of resources and good practice and joint project and campaign work. TheBCTCA is focussing joint action on tackling illicit tobacco.Dudley PCT identified the Tobacco Control programme as one of its key World ClassCommissioning (WCC) priorities in 2010 supported by additional recurrentinvestment within the PCTs strategic plan to bring the target of 4 week quitters to3554/year and rate /1000 population to 14.22 by 2015 and to achieve a reduction inthe demand for healthcare further upstream. This programme of work will bedelivered through a comprehensive tobacco control approach.96