Scotland: Scheme to help pregnant women stop smoking ‘a success’

A scheme to help pregnant women stop smoking could be extended to the rest of Scotland after a successful trial in Tayside.
First Minister Alex Salmond told MSPs yesterday that the project - which involves people being paid not to buy cigarettes - had produced positive results.
Participants in the Give it Up for Baby scheme are tested weekly at a local pharmacy to confirm their tobacco-free status.
If they manage to stay off cigarettes, a store card is credited with a maximum of £12.50 a week which can be used to buy groceries and baby goods at selected supermarkets.
Some 135 women in Angus, 125 in Perth and Kinross and 164 in Dundee have signed up to the scheme, which also offers nicotine-replacement therapy and social support.
Smoking can contribute to low birth weight and premature deliveries.
NHS Tayside public-health consultant official Andrew Radley said the project, which started in April 2007, had been very successful, with 18% of women staying smoke-free three months after having given birth. Mr Salmond told the Scottish Parliament ministers were now considering how the scheme could be "rolled out" across the country.
He said health board funding for smoking-cessation programmes had increased from £27million in 2005-2008 to £40million in 2008-2011. But, despite the best efforts of the NHS, pregnant women still found it difficult to quit smoking. Mr Salmond added: "We do continue to do all that we can to encourage them to make healthier lifestyle choices, both for their own sake and for their unborn child."
Earlier this year, MSPs approved legislation to ban the display of cigarettes and tobacco in shops and outlaw cigarette vending machines, to make smoking less attractive to children.
The ban on tobacco displays will come into force for large retailers such as supermarkets next year.
Corner shops have until 2013 to make the necessary arrangements to keep tobacco out of sight.
Earlier this week, a three-month consultation was launched. It gives retailers the chance to comment on how the restrictions will be implemented in stores.

Source: The Press and Journal - 30 April 2010