Smokers in Hartlepool looking to quit can now get improved specialist support to help them stub it out for good.
Hartlepool Borough Council has commissioned North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust and Hartlepool & Stockton Health to deliver the new Hartlepool Stop Smoking Service.
The new service, which complements existing schemes including specialist support for pregnant women, hospital inpatient advice, and community navigators at Hartlepool’s Community Hubs, will provide:
- 12-week support programme (including nicotine replacement therapies and/or an e-cigarette)
- Face-to-face clinics across the community
- Telephone consultations
- Home visits for housebound patients
- Workplace clinics
The team, which can take self-referrals from people looking to quit as well as from health staff, will also offer training and support for other community professionals.
Service helping people across community
Although based at the University Hospital of Hartlepool, the team will be active in the local community, delivering the support where it is most needed.
Councillor Brenda Harrison, Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council and Chair of the Hartlepool Health and Wellbeing Board, said: “We’re delighted to launch this service which will build on the support already available – including the excellent work being done by our Community Navigators – to provide a much more extensive and accessible service.
“Not only do many people die each year from smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer, many more are living with debilitating illnesses such as COPD.
“You can stop smoking, and now there’s even more support to help you achieve that, so please take the first step and give the Hartlepool Stop Smoking Service a call.
“Do it for yourself and for your family – you cando it.”
Esther Mireku, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust public health consultant, commented: “There are no positives to smoking.
“Smoking only brings negative health effects.
“Quitting smoking reduces risks of cancer, lung disease, heart disease and stroke. After just one year, the risk of heart attack halves compared to that of a smoker.
“As well as the longer-term benefits, within days and weeks the sense of taste and smell improves and breathing gets easier.
“The benefits literally begin from that first cigarette you choose not to smoke.”
The service will also be active in the community using Hartlepool & Stockton Health‘s mobile Research and Learning, Primary Health unit, nicknamed the RALPH bus.
Fran Gibson, nurse lead for Hartlepool & Stockton Health, said: “Getting out into the community, with our health bus RALPH, is not only a privilege, but also a vital step in reducing health inequalities.
“We hope this service will help people in Hartlepool go from thinking about quitting smoking to living a smoke-free, healthy life.”
The Hartlepool Stop Smoking Service can be contacted on 01642 383819.