Understanding smoking, quitting and health inequalities

This is a report by Healthwatch Kirklees. The project looks at smoking and the health effects in the area.

In the project Healthwatch gathered insights from 588 responses to our survey, ensuring diverse representation across age, gender, ethnicity, disability, and socio-economic backgrounds. 

This report represents the findings from our engagement with people who smoke or who have previously smoked to understand their experiences, motivations, and barriers in quitting smoking. The key findings highlight significant health inequalities:

1. Smoking and deprivation: A high proportion of people who smokelive in areas of deprivation and social housing.

2. Ethnic disparities: Due to social pressure, people from ethnically diverse backgrounds are more likely to face additional barriers to quitting.

3. Disability and smoking: 43% of those with a disability are people who smoke, with many using smoking as a coping mechanism for stress and mental health conditions.

4. Gender differences: Men are less likely to attempt quitting compared to women, who tend to make more attempts to stop smoking.

5. Long-term health conditions: People who smoke and have long-term conditions have the lowest confidence in quitting and the highest rates of tobacco use.

6. Mental health: Those with mental health conditions report higher smoking rates and lower confidence in quitting despite high motivation.

7. Barriers to quitting: The biggest challenges include addiction, stress, lack of willpower, cravings, and being around other people who smoke.

8. Motivators to quit: Health concerns and financial costs are the primary reasons people want to stop smoking.

9. Access to support: Many people who smoke are unaware of available services, with notable gaps in healthcare professionals signposting to support.

10.Service improvements needed: People who smoke want support to be available in their community, tailored support, incentives to help em quit, improved online support, better access to free stop-smoking aids, alternatives to vapes, and non-judgmental services.

There are recommendations in this report:

1. Improve healthcare signposting: Train all frontline healthcare professionals to proactively discuss stop-smoking services with those they’re working with, and provide them with up-to-date information about what’s on offer so that they can confidently signpost to support.

2. Expand local support services: Increase locations of community-based stop smoking clinics, and consider outreach in places like GP surgeries, supermarkets, and workplaces.

3. Enhance access to free aids: Provide free nicotine replacement therapy for low-income groups. Make it clear if there is a cost implication for people quitting smoking via vaping/patches. 

4. Offer alternative therapies and non-vape options: Consider alternatives to vaping, including behaviour therapies and alternative therapies such as hypnotherapy.

5. Develop tailored support for vulnerable groups: Introduce dedicated quit programs for people with mental health conditions, disabilities, long term conditions, and carers. 

6. Improve digital support: Make online quit-smoking resources (the free NHS stop smoking app) more accessible on the Kirklees wellness webpage (Stop Smoking | Kirklees Wellness Service) and promote it on social media. Targeted social media posts in areas of high prevalence to promote the service.

7. Incentivise quitting: Pilot a voucher-based and/or incentive scheme for social housing tenants and routine/manual workers. Consider incentives for workplaces to sign up for stop smoking outreach sessions to be held on their premises. 

8. Flexible support options: Expand service hours to include evenings and weekends.

9. Holistic wellbeing support: Provide integrated mental health, weight management, alongside stop smoking support. 

10.Support for as long as it’s needed: Continue working with people who smoke and people who quit until they feel they can manage without support. Make sure it’s easy for people to reconnect with stop smoking services if they return to smoking.