Chief Midwifery Officer for England, Kate Brintworth, has commended Greater Manchester’s pioneering ‘Smokefree Pregnancy Programme’ during a high-profile visit to the region.
Kate, accompanied by top officials from NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) praised the programme for its transformative impact on maternal and infant health, helping inspire a new national initiative aimed at reducing smoking during pregnancy.
Delivered between NHS Greater Manchester, local authorities, NHS foundation trusts and technology partner, Accenture – Greater Manchester’s Smokefree Pregnancy Programme has successfully reduced smoking at time of delivery by more than 40% and led to more than 6,000 additional babies being born smokefree, since launching in 2018.
The programme offers all pregnant women and birthing people, and their partners, free and personalised stop-smoking support through a specialist maternity stop-smoking service. This includes one-to-one advice and guidance, free nicotine replacement therapy, regular carbon monoxide screening, and an incentive scheme to stay smokefree.
Kate, joined by National Clinical Director for Maternity Professor Donald Peebles and Deputy Chief Public Health Nurse for England, Professor Jamie Waterall, met for a roundtable discussion at Tonge Family Hub, Starkie Road in Bolton, with specialist midwives, maternity tobacco dependency advisors and senior leaders from Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Greater Manchester. They also met with service users who had successfully quit smoking while pregnant to listen to their experiences and discussed the upcoming roll-out of a national incentive scheme to support pregnant smokers to quit.
Kate Brintworth, Chief Midwifery Officer for England said: “Smoking rates in pregnancy are at an all-time low thanks to initiatives and support from NHS teams like the Smokefree Pregnancy Programme in Greater Manchester. This year also saw the biggest annual fall in smoking in pregnancy since records began.
“But there is still more to do to protect families. The rollout of a similar scheme nationally will ensure we can continue to build on this work so that all mothers and babies, no matter where they live in England, are protected from the dangerous health impacts of smoking and passive smoking during pregnancy.”
