The West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance Tobacco Advisory Board met for the first time this week - 29th May 2018 - public health, hospitals, cancer charities and doctors joining forces to build on the work already happening in local places. Working with clinical colleagues across the region, a key priority for the Board will be looking at how the NHS can better fulfil its key role in supporting and signposting smokers keen to quit to the specialist services that can help them succeed.
Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive of Public Health England, has today published his views on the topic, stating: "The NHS must be front and centre for us to secure a smokefree generation in England. One in four patients in hospital beds are smokers. Not only should the NHS be leading by example, but taking every opportunity to engage those patients that smoke".
Click here to read his blog - Progressing A Smokefree NHS
Click here to read more about the World Health Organisation's World No Tobacco Day
Click here to visit the Cancer Research UK website with more information about how smoking increases the risk of lung cancer - the biggest cancer killer in West Yorkshire and Harrogate - and at least 14 other types of cancer.
Click here to read about the Tobacco Control work of the Alliance.
