Stop Smoking services consultation
Our consultation on Stop Smoking services has now closed.
We consulted residents who currently smoke or used to smoke about how we can improve our Stop Smoking service.
We carried out this consultation because smoking is the leading cause of preventable premature death in Haringey. The council commissions a Stop Smoking service which is currently being re-tendered. This gave us an opportunity to update our service specification, and hear from you about how this service might be delivered in the future.
Smoking prevalence is higher among people on lower incomes and those with mental health and substance misuse problems. It also poses a greater risk to those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or asthma, pregnant women and new mothers. We were therefore particularly keen to hear from these groups.
Stop Smoking Consultation - Results
In total, we carried out 154 surveys across the borough, including 79 members of the public, 12 people who self identified as having mental health issues, 15 new mothers, 28 ‘routine and manual workers’ (though this category was also picked up amongst the general public), and 46 members of staff in Haringey Council. From the survey, 97 people were current smokers, 32 people were ex-smokers, and 13 people were occasional or social smokers.
We also ran four different focus groups:
- 11 clients from the recovery service for substance misuse
- 9 clients from the Dual Diagnosis service
- 9 clients from the Haringey Alcohol recovery service
- 3 clients with mental health issues who are using Housing Related Support Services in the council
Findings
Why stop smoking?
- 65% of survey respondents said the primary reason to quit had been to improve their health or on the advice of a health professional. This was also the main reason identified as a motivator for quitting amongst the participants in our focus groups.
- 21% of survey respondents said they had quit to save money
- 14% of survey respondents said they had quit due to pregnancy
How do you stop smoking?
- 38% of ex smokers had successfully quit from going cold turkey
- The most popular method to stop amongst current smokers was by gradually cutting down the amount of cigarettes they smoked, with 44% choosing this method
- The second most popular method amongst current smokers was Nicotine Replacement products with 31%, followed by e-cigarettes with 28%
What makes it difficult to stop smoking?
- 51% of current smokers who had attempted to quit at least once cited stress, drinking and socialising, living with current smokers and having friends/family who smoked as the things that made it difficult to stop
- Ex smokers said quitting was more difficult to sustain when out drinking/socialising, having friends and family who smoke, and not getting smoking breaks at work
- In the focus groups people identified having friends and family who smoked as one of the most difficult factors in quitting smoking
- People in the mental health focus group said the inpatient ward at St Ann’s Hospital had a smoking area that was more sociable than the non smoking areas
- Across all focus groups weight gain was a major disincentive to quit smoking
- For the dual diagnosis group and the alcohol recovery group, smoking was identified as something that helped them to deal with their primary addictions
What would make it easier to stop smoking?
- Across all focus groups people identified that feeling healthier helped them to quit smoking, and noticing how much healthier they were getting helped them to sustain the effort to stop smoking
- A number of people suggested incentives like gym passes
- Many people also said more information about the negative health consequences of smoking would help them to consider quitting
- Across all the groups people said that price rises had made them cut down
- Respondents wanted a Stop Smoking service to understand the nature of their mental illnesses or addictions, including how stress and crisis points made them relapse into smoking
Where would you like to go to get help and information to stop smoking?
- 29% of survey respondents said they would go to their GPs for information about how to stop smoking
- 23% would use the internet
- 15% would use their local chemists
- In the focus groups people mostly identified chemists as one of the key places they would go for support. Some people also said they might go to their GP, but others stated that they did not have much faith in their current GP
New Mothers
- We surveyed 9 new mothers, 2 were current smokers and the rest were ex-smokers
- 3 had quit whilst pregnant and 3 had quit due to health reasons
- For this group the main difficulties in quitting had been living with other smokers, having friends and family who smoked, stress, not getting smoking breaks, and being out drinking and socialising were the most difficult things
Mental Health issues
- We surveyed 12 people with mental health issues of whom all were current smokers
- Amongst this group the things that made it most difficult to quit smoking included being around friends and family who smoked, living with smokers, being out drinking/socialising, and stress
- Individual counselling to stop smoking, and getting a wider range of treatment options were the most preferred methods of getting help to stop smoking
- Not being able to access a Stop Smoking service immediately/online were mostly considered to be ‘not important’
Substance Misuse
- In groups associated with substance misuse, stress, habits and crisis points were seen as things that increased smoking
- Socialising and stress were seen as things that made it difficult to stop smoking
- People in the substance misuse focus group were against key workers being used to deliver a Stop Smoking service, apart from for signposting
Routine and Manual Workers
- 28 people surveyed fell into this category, of whom 26 were current smokers
- The vast majority who had tried to quit had done so to improve their health, and the others had identified saving money as the second most important reason to quit smoking
- Socialising and stress were found to make efforts to quit smoking more difficult
- 25% of participants in this group thought it would be easier to quit if more of their friends and family received help to quit smoking
- GPs and the internet were the preferred information source for stop smoking service in this group
Key points
- Across all groups the primary reason to quit smoking was to improve health, and then to save money.
- Preferred methods for quitting include cutting down gradually, going cold turkey, and nicotine replacement options.
- Across all groups, having friends and family who smoked, living with smokers, stress and socialising were the things that made it most difficult to stop smoking. Additionally, across all focus groups, weight gain following quitting smoking was seen as a major difficulty in sustaining efforts to stop smoking.
- Overall, GPs and the internet are consistently amongst the preferred routes of getting information about stop smoking services.
- Across the focus groups, people wanted a Stop Smoking service which understood the nature of their mental health condition/addiction, was forgiving of the issue of smokers relapsing into smoking at times of crisis (sometimes to stave off the mental health issues/ addiction remerging), and a service that did not interfere with their treatment for their primary mental health/addiction issue (across all focus groups many people said they felt they could only tackle one issue/addiction at a time).
The feedback from the consultation is now being used to inform what the service will look like.
Page last updated:
April 22, 2022
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