Smoking Prevention

Smoking is one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK, increasing your risk of developing more than 50 serious health conditions including lung cancer, and heart disease.

Although the number is reducing year on year, in Bradford 1 in 5 people still smoke, and there are 6,000 hospital admission in the district that are linked to smoking.

Stopping smoking is the single biggest thing you can do to improve your health. Research shows that two thirds of smokers want to quit, and receiving support is four times more likely to help you stop smoking than quitting on your own.

There are lots of options to get help to quit smoking, from GP surgeries, pharmacies and also our Living Well Advisors. They all offer a free, personal service with 12 weeks support that helps you to quit using the method that’s right for you including prescribed stop smoking medications. They can also help with stopping smoking in pregnancy.

You can find out more and see a list of all support available at the Living Well website.

Protecting your baby from tobacco smoke is one of the best things you can do to give your child a healthy start in life. It can be difficult to stop smoking, but it's never too late to quit.

Every cigarette you smoke harms your unborn baby and can restrict the essential oxygen supply to your baby. As a result, their heart has to beat harder every time you smoke.

For more information on the benefits of stopping smoking in pregnancy visit the NHS website 

As well as from your midwife, you can also get free support to quit  - see all options on the Living Well website.

Most second hand smoke is invisible and odourless, so no matter how careful you think you're being, people around you still breathe in the harmful poisons.

Opening windows and doors or smoking in another room in the house doesn't protect people. Smoke can linger in the air for 2 to 3 hours after you've finished a cigarette, even with a window open. Also, even if you limit smoking to one room, the smoke will spread to the rest of the house where people will inhale it.

Passive smoking is especially harmful for children as they have less well-developed airways, lungs and immune systems.

Children who live in a household where at least 1 person smokes are more likely to develop:

• asthma
• chest infections – like pneumonia and bronchitis
• meningitis
• ear infections
• coughs and colds

Children are particularly vulnerable in the family car where second hand smoke can reach hazardous levels even with the windows open.

To protect children, smoking in cars and other vehicles carrying children was banned in 2015. It is against the law to smoke in a private vehicle if there's a young person under 18 present.

Read about the law on smoking in private vehicles on GOV.UK.