Our new and improved Smokefree service from Nottinghamshire County Council kicked in from April 1st, 2016.
Nottinghamshire residents will benefit from the new targeted, outcome focused, high quality and individualised smokefree services and was yet another addition to the stop smoking services already provided for 30 councils across the country. Services that have been responsible for some 50,000 quitter success stories to date.
The new S4H team known locally as Smokefreelife Nottinghamshire (which has increased its capacity to 25 stop smoking advisors) will be based in Kirkby-in-Ashfield’s Health & Wellbeing Centre although the support will serve the whole of Nottinghamshire including the greater Mansfield/Sutton/Ashfield area, Newark & Sherwood, Bassetlaw and Retford, plus the boroughs of Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Gedling.
Our expanded team will ensure continuity of care to service users and key Council partners including pharmacists, GPs, hospitals, including midwives and other health care and voluntary sector professionals.
Smokefree Life Nottinghamshire’s initiatives include the ‘wellness on wheels’ mobile unit, which takes expertise and advice directly to local communities and into more convenient locations like town squares, shopping centres, markets, etc – with an emphasis on delivering support to hardly reached areas and groups like pregnant women, low income families, routine and manual workers and the BME population.
The new service will also provide individualised support to meet the needs of the local community in the form of a free Quitline, offering telephone contact, text, online and email support to those who may not wish to access the more traditional face-to-face support. There will also be easy access to stop smoking medications to provide people with that little bit of extra help.
Chris Kenny, Director of Public Health for Nottinghamshire County Council, comments: “We are very excited for the new service. Smokefreelife Nottinghamshire will include protection and prevention elements and be a combination of proactive outreach to priority groups in their community and workplace, plus other partnerships working across health, social care and the wider economy. Subsequently, a more flexible, innovative and free service will be available using a range of evidence based methods – ultimately making it as easy to quit as it is to smoke.
We’re especially keen to get our local partners and other related lifestyle providers working together in a more joined up and holistic way.”
Leena Sankla, Director of Public Health and Lifestyle Services for Solutions 4 Health, added: “We take a very positive approach and are all about reducing health inequalities through supporting and empowering people to improve their health and well being. After all, smokers are four times more likely to quit successfully when they have professional support.
“Our aim is to revitalise stop smoking services in Nottinghamshire and include elements to protect people from tobacco use, but also prevent people from starting to smoke in the first place.”
We’re delighted to add Nottinghamshire to the growing number of areas benefiting from our well-established ‘smokefreelife’ programme and helping people across the county to live their lives smokefree.
