ASH Wales Launches New Campaign Urging Smokers To ‘Quit For Wales’

Employers in Wales must to do more to help staff quit smoking, as major campaign launches to reduce smoking rates in Wales

Every employer in Wales must promote quit smoking support if the Welsh Government’s target of reducing smoking rates from 23% to 16% by 2020 is to be achieved, according to ASH Wales.

The call comes as a new campaign – Quit for Wales – is launched today by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in Wales ahead of the autumn rugby internationals.

The campaign will urge Wales’s 500,000 smokers to make a quit attempt and will call for more investment in smoking cessation services in the workplace, as well as more quit support for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and people with mental health problems.

Nearly a quarter of people in Wales still smoke, including over 30% of those in routine and manual professions. Very few businesses in Wales offer smoking cessation support even though smoking severely impacts productivity through smoking breaks and workforce health.

Recent research by ASH Wales showed that £41m is lost every year to Welsh businesses through smoking breaks and a £49.5 m through excess sickness absence.

The Welsh Government wants to reduce smoking rates from the current 23% to 16% by 2020 – that means 25,000 people quitting every year in Wales – and that’s without anyone else starting to smoke.

The campaign, which will run for six months, will call for:

  • Every workplace in Wales to promote flexible quit smoking support to their employees. Over 30% of routine and manual workers currently smoke, a much higher percentage than the overall average.
  • All midwives and health visitors in Wales to be educated on smoking in pregnancy and receive brief intervention training as part of their pre-registration training. Currently 16% of pregnant women in Wales smoke throughout their pregnancy, the highest rate in the UK
  • All mental health providers to be trained in quit smoking support. In contrast to the decline in smoking prevalence in the general population in the last two decades, there has been little change in smoking prevalence among those with mental disorders in the same period

Elen de Lacy, Chief Executive of ASH Wales said:

“If we are going to reduce smoking prevalence in Wales and encourage more people to quit we have to invest in flexible and accessible services to ensure people get the right support. Workplaces in Wales have a vital role to play in bringing smoking rates down and can be supportive environments to quit, but employers need to give their staff the time and support to do it. We also need to ensure that professionals involved with vulnerable groups such as midwives and mental health service providers are trained to advise smokers, and signpost them to the right services.

“As part of our Quit for Wales campaign we’ll be asking people to pledge to quit via quitforwales.org and share their reasons why to help motivate others. We know that 70% of smokers want to quit so we need to be providing more support to help them do it.

“As part of our Quit for Wales campaign we’ll be asking people to pledge to quit via quitforwales.org and share their reasons why to help motivate others. We know that 70% of smokers want to quit so we need to be providing more support to help them do it.”

A leading company based in Wales that is actively promoting quit smoking support in the workplace is GoCompare.

Kath Denton, Head of Organisational Development at GoCompare said: “A smoking cessation group was one of the original health and wellbeing initiatives we set up and we continue to recognise the difficulties that our staff members face in trying to stop smoking. To help them we provide free non-smoking resources for staff such as patches, gum, information packs, signposting and a free copy of Allen Carr’s Stop Smoking book.

“In addition, two members of staff (both ex-smokers) attended brief intervention for smoking cessation training in May 2013. This means they are now in a position to really be able to help staff who want to give up smoking by talking them through the various models and techniques available to smokers and refer them to ‘Stop Smoking Wales’ where possible. We also encourage ex-smokers to buddy up with those who are trying to quit, to increase their chances of success and provide an understanding ear when they need it most.

We also participate in National No Smoking Days and promote this actively within the company.”

Dr Patricia Riordan, Director of Health and Healthcare Improvement at Public Health Wales, said:

“We welcome this new campaign as it provides another great opportunity for smokers who want to quit and to do so with plenty of support and help from services such as Stop Smoking Wales.

“The benefits of being smoke-free are immediate, whatever your age. Within weeks your breathing and circulation will improve and the risk of serious illness starts to reduce.

Stop Smoking Wales offers free sessions for people across Wales and can provide valuable support to smokers who want to quit. Thousands of people contact the service every year, and with the help of Stop Smoking Wales you are four times more likely to quit.”

Businesses Across North Wales Urged To Help Staff Quit On No Smoking Day

Employers in North Wales are being urged to join the battle to bring smoking rates down this No Smoking Day (March 12th) by offering more workplace support to help their staff to quit.

ASH Wales’ Quit for Wales campaign has been calling on all businesses across Wales to offer quit smoking support for staff because workplaces can be supportive environments for smokers to quit. Many employers have already introduced ‘buddy’ systems, trained staff to become advisers themselves, or arranged quit smoking sessions during break times to help people give up.

Over 30% of people in routine and manual professions currently smoke.

ASH Wales and its youth project The Filter will be at Bangor University on Wednesday March 12th to promote No Smoking Day. As one of North Wales’s largest employers with 1,800 staff and 11,000 students Bangor University is keen to provide support to staff and students who want to give up smoking.

More than 110 workplaces now feature on ASH Wales’ Quit for Wales map including Kellogg’s in Wrexham, Stena Line in Holyhead and Iceland supermarket chain based on Deeside.

Workplaces in Wales have a vital role to play in bringing smoking rates down and have the potential to be really supportive environments to help people quit. It not only benefits workers’ health but also the companies themselves in terms of reducing the time and money lost through smoking breaks and sickness absence due to smoking-related illness.

“More than double the capacity of the Millennium Stadium need to quit if we are to reach the Welsh Government’s target of reducing smoking rates from 23% to 16% by 2020. That’s a big challenge but we know that 70% of smokers say they want to give up smoking so we need to provide the support they need in the community and in the workplace, not just in the health service, to help people do it.”

Elen de Lacy, Chief Executive of ASH Wales

Standardised Packaging For Tobacco Moves A Step Closer In Wales

Health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Wales has welcomed a key vote by Assembly Members which paves the way for legislation that would ban glossy tobacco packaging aimed at young people.

AMs voted to approve a Legislative Consent Motion tabled by the Welsh Government in the Senedd earlier today (21st January) which paves the way for standardised packaging to be introduced across the UK if an amendment to the Children and Families Bill is approved in Westminster at the end of the month.

Legislation on standardised packaging would ban tobacco companies from using eye-catching packaging like these below to sell their product.

In Wales 16% of 15 year old girls smoke at least once a week compared with 11% of 15 year old boys. (WHO Health Behaviour in School aged Children survey 2009/10)

There is evidence that standardised packaging:

• makes tobacco packaging look less attractive to young people

• increases the effectiveness of health warnings

• prevents use of misleading colours to imply different strengths, and

• removes the cool imagery associated with certain cigarette brands

Australia was the first country in the world to implement standard packs in December 2012. New Zealand, Scotland and Ireland have also said they will follow.

A YouGov survey for ASH Wales in 2013 has also revealed that two thirds of the Welsh public now want to see standard packs for tobacco.

“This vote shows that there is cross party support for standardised packaging and takes us a step further in Wales to banning the last form of advertising by the tobacco companies.

“Young people we have spoken to around Wales have described current tobacco packaging as similar to chewing gum, perfume, posh tissues and even Lego. Tobacco is a lethal product and the marketing of such a product aimed at young people in this way should not be tolerated.

“There is no evidence that standardised tobacco packaging would increase the illicit trade as the tobacco industry would have us believe, as packs will still require the coloured health warnings, statutory information and covert markings which help to distinguish them from counterfeit products.”

Elen de Lacy, Chief Executive of ASH Wales

App Launched To Help Young People Beat Their Cravings And Quit Smoking

On the first anniversary of its launch, Action on Smoking and Health Wales’ Youth Project The Filter has launched its first mobile application, Distractor. The app can be downloaded for free, and provides a creative distraction to help young people manage their tobacco cravings, alongside in-app access to The Filter’s information website and support service.

Young people are invited to beat their cravings with the app’s primary function – the distractor. Users are given a ‘theme’ or prompt to create an image and a three-minute countdown timer. The aim is to provide young people with a distraction long enough for their tobacco craving to pass.

The app will be launched on Friday 10th January, the anniversary of the launch of Filter project itself, which aims to reduce the number of children who start smoking each year in Wales. The Filter is funded by the Big Lottery Fund to provide support and quit smoking advice to young people aged 11-25, and is the only service of its kind in Wales.

In its first year, the project team has worked with youth groups, pupil referral units, schools, colleges and universities across Wales to raise awareness about the dangers of smoking. The Filter has also brought the Cut Films Awards to Wales and hosted Filter the Future, Wales’ first ever youth summit on tobacco and smoking health.

“We’re really excited about sharing The Distractor app with young people across the country. It takes about 3 minutes for a tobacco craving to pass, and the best way to manage these cravings is with distraction. The app will provide a fun and engaging distraction, alongside high-quality information and advice about the dangers of smoking.”

“Around 14,500 11-15 year olds try smoking every year in Wales. Research has also shown that around 15% of 15 year old girls and 9% of 15 year old boys regularly smoke (HBSC 2010) and we are working hard to get these figures down. The app marks the beginning of the next phase for The Filter, and we are looking forward to working with even more young people in 2014 and giving them the confidence to say ‘no’ to tobacco.

Jamie Jones-Mead, The Filter Programme Manager

With its creative side, and the ability to share images and pictures with friends, the app will appeal to both smokers and non-smokers. To create images, there is a full colour palette, paintbrush tools, stickers and the option to add a photograph using the phone’s camera. When the three minutes is up, the image can be saved or shared across a range of social networks, and uploaded to the app’s gallery for all users to view. A fact about smoking is also displayed after each three-minute cycle.

Alongside the distractor, The Filter’s information website can be accessed directly from the application. The website offers help and advice, including how to quit smoking, and the facts about smoking and tobacco.

Access to The Filter’s instant message advice service is also built in to the app and is available for young people to ask a question or chat with an expert about the best way to stop smoking. The advice service is available on weekdays from 3pm – 8pm.

The app is fully bilingual and is available for both Android and Apple (iPhone/iPod) devices. The app can be downloaded free from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

More information is available on The Filter website: www.thefilterwales.org/distractor and users are invited to share their images and reviews of the app with the hash tag #distractor.

Welsh Rugby Union Urges People To Kick Smoking Into Touch And ‘Quit For Wales’

Primary school children joined forces with members of the Welsh rugby squad today to call on people to Quit for Wales as part of a major campaign to reduce smoking rates in Wales and save lives.

Members of the squad took time out from training ahead of Friday night’s international against Tonga at the Millennium Stadium to support ASH Wales’s Quit for Wales campaign which aims to get smokers across Wales to try a quit attempt and share their reasons why, to inspire others.

The campaign will also highlight the need for more investment in quit smoking services in Wales for vulnerable groups such as young people, pregnant women, and those with mental health difficulties to ensure everyone gets the right support.

The children, from Barry Island Primary school in the Vale of Glamorgan, have recently designed their own no smoking sign for their local playground and the perimeter around their school.

Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Roger Lewis said: “We’re delighted to give our backing to ASH Wales and the Quit for Wales campaign. We fully support their efforts to help people give up smoking and we want everyone in Wales to have the help and support to quit.

“Smoking is a deadly addiction that kills thousands of people a year in Wales and we applaud each and every person who is trying to give up, whether it’s for their health or their family’s. We want to see a healthy and active Wales where every single person can reach their full potential and for our children to enjoy a smoke-free future. Join the Quit for Wales campaign and share your reason for quitting atquitforwales.org”

Ex-smoker Howard Hughes from Ystrad Mynach will appear alongside smokers and ex-smokers in ASH Wales’s short campaign film which will be shown ahead of the Wales v Australia international on November 30th.

Howard said: “It’s not easy to quit but I’ve joined the Quit for Wales campaign because I’m hoping my story will encourage others to try giving up. I’m so excited to be in ASH Wales’s campaign film and for it to go out in the Millennium Stadium is a fantastic opportunity to reach so many people.

“I smoked from about 17 until I was 35 and was on 20 a day at the end,” said Howard. “I had tried a number of times to quit, succeeding from a few days to 6 months at one stage. As a nurse, I knew all the risks, I gave stop-smoking advice, but still couldn’t give up.”

“I started noticing pins and needles in my fingers when smoking more heavily and was aware of the peripheral neuropathy that can result from small vessel damage – this was my cue, so I went cold-turkey and managed to do it.

“If I could only give one piece of advice it would be this – everyone I talk to who re-starts smoking has a good excuse. Whenever I was craving, I’d find myself looking for an excuse; something to blame. There are no excuses that warrant re-starting, it’s just another way of kidding yourself.”

Elen de Lacy, chief executive of ASH Wales said: “It’s fantastic to get the support of the Welsh Rugby Union for our Quit for Wales campaign and we hope that their support will inspire some of Wales’s half a million smokers to make a quit attempt. Smoking is killing more than 5,000 people every year in Wales and we need to give people every opportunity to help them give up. This campaign is all about getting people to support each other and to inspire others by sharing their quit stories and we’re urging everyone to make their pledge on quitforwales.org or on social media using the hashtag #quitforwales

Smoking Costs Welsh Businesses more than £80m a Year

Research by public health charity Action on Smoking and Health in Wales has revealed that smoking is costing Welsh businesses an estimated £88.4m a year, putting added pressure on already cash-strapped companies.

The figure includes loss of productivity through smoking breaks; loss of workforce through excess sickness absence due to smoking-related illness; and damage to premises through smoking-related fires, all of which are having a significant impact on Welsh businesses.

Smoking breaks alone are estimated to cost Welsh businesses £39.5m a year.

The estimated cost of excess sickness absence is £48m a year while the estimated cost of commercial fires started accidentally by smokers’ materials in Wales is £930,000 a year.

The report “The Economic Cost of Smoking to Businesses in Wales”, is published on the first day of ASH Wales’s annual international conference in Cardiff, which will host experts from all over the world including the USA, India, the Isle of Man and the UK who will share cutting edge research on smoking prevalence and cessation initiatives.

At the conference ASH Wales will showcase its ‘Businesses for a Smoke-free Wales’ project which has involved working with 10 Welsh companies to help managers implement or develop existing smoke-free policies, as well as provide advice and support to employees.

The 12-month pilot project, which ASH Wales hopes to build on in the coming year due to demand, also offers direct fast track links to work-based quit smoking support services and opportunities to network with other businesses across Wales who are interested in developing smoke-free initiatives.

John Bennett, Business Development Manager at ASH Wales said:

“Helping staff to quit smoking not only benefits their health and their families’ health but can help businesses make significant savings.

“Businesses are beginning to realise the impact of smoking on their bottom line and want to do something about it. Businesses are coming to us from all over Wales asking for support to help their staff quit. As part of the project we spend time with the management to assess the impact that smoking is having as well as work with employees providing information, advice and signposting to other support they may need.”

Companies taking part include OP Chocolate and Everything Everywhere (T-Mobile) in Merthyr Tydfil; GE Aviation in Cardiff; South Hook LNG in Pembrokeshire, UPM in Shotton and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

OP chocolates in Merthyr Tydfil, which has nearly 300 staff, went smokefree on No Smoking Day on March 14th this year with the support of ASH Wales. Staff are now working together to form a “quit group” to support each other to give up.

Chief Executive of ASH Wales Elen de Lacy said:

“The figures in our report are not surprising but should be a wake-up call to everyone who doubts the impact that smoking still has in our communities, not only on our health but on our economy.

“Businesses need to realise the impact that smoking is having on their profit margins. Putting in place no –smoking policies and providing support to staff members to help them quit would not only improve the health of employees, but provide an economic benefit as well.

“Times are tough for businesses but if they were to think about providing on-site stop smoking support and develop a smoking cessation policy in collaboration with staff, it could make a significant difference.

“We also urgently need to ensure quit smoking services are accessible, equitable and offer a broad range of services across Wales if we are to have any chance of meeting the Welsh Government’s aim of reducing adult smoking prevalence to 16%. Long term we also need to be doing all we can to ensure fewer young people take up smoking through leadership and education.”