The national 'Stoptober' campaign encourages smokers to quit the habit for the month of October, with the aim of helping them to stop for good.
Research shows that if a smoker stays smoke-free for 28 days, they are five times more likely to quit permanently. NHS initiatives and information can help smokers get onto the no smoking path. 

At Frimley Health, our maternity department launched its own in-house stop smoking service at the end of March, and in just six months it’s had a number of success stories. 

So far, the service has helped 32 mums-to-be stop smoking (18 at Frimley Park and 14 at Wexham Park), all of whom received a certificate from our maternity tobacco dependency advisors (MTDAs) when they made it to 28 days without smoking. 

Pregnancy is a transformative experience and there is often a lot of appointments and things to think about. The maternity stop smoking service makes that part of the journey to motherhood a little easier by supporting women to take the first steps to quit for good.

The team has received amazing feedback: 100% of service users were satisfied with their care, and all said they would recommend the service to other people wanting to stop smoking. 

Here are just two of the comments received from satisfied patients:

"After 15 years of smoking, I've quit. The lady was very kind, empathic and professional in her role. I’m glad I had nice support she gave me a lovely certificate at the end to celebrate my goal. I really appreciate it. Thank you." 

"Eve was amazing and very supportive. Without her I wouldn’t have got as far as I have!" 

The team’s ambition was to achieve a ‘smoking at time of delivery’ rate of less than 5%, and in July the team achieved a rate of 4.9%. The rate throughout March – just before the service launched – was 6.9%. 

Dr Rebecca Edwards, Consultant Midwife, said:

“As we mark the start of Stoptober, I want to take a moment to celebrate the incredible impact the Maternity Stop Smoking Service has had on our department over the past six months. 

“This service has quickly become a vital part of the support we offer, and its success is thanks to the dedication and teamwork of so many individuals. 

“A heartfelt thank you to all the community midwives who continue to champion the service by referring pregnant mothers. 

“A special thank you as well to Kirsty Stone, whose leadership and commitment have been instrumental in guiding our fantastic team of tobacco dependency advisors, Carly, Ambreen, and Eve. Your hard work has given this service such a strong start. Thank you all for making such a meaningful difference.”