Members of the Tower Hamlets Tobacco Control Alliance attended an awards evening at 11 Downing Street on 3 March 2010, to accept praise for being shortlisted for the ‘Achieving more through partnerships’ Local Innovation Award. The alliance was highly commended for their work with the Bangladeshi community and reducing the smoking prevalence among routine and manual workers.
The scheme recognises and awards partnerships that demonstrate innovative services, ideas and ways of working to benefit citizens. Successful workstreams such as the Smokefree Business Awards, shisha awareness campaigns and smoking cessation services within workplaces have all contributed to the alliance being the only London borough shortlisted in this category.
Jill Goddard, senior strategist for adult healthy lifestyles at NHS Tower Hamlets said: “It is extremely exciting to be part of a team that is committed to improving the health and well-being of the community. This nomination has only motivated us to strive for better and new ways of tackling tobacco prevalence.”
Smoking remains the borough’s single biggest cause of health inequality, accounting for 22% of deaths, compared with 18% in London. It is estimated that one in three of the adult population smoke.
Ian Basnett, joint director of public health, NHS Tower Hamlets and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets said: “Being recognised from Downing Street for all of the alliance’s hard work over the past 18 months is truly an honour. Not only does it acknowledge our innovative strategy, but also highlights the positive changes that can be accomplished through partnership working.”
The alliance, made up of NHS Tower Hamlets and the local council, was formed in 2008 to decrease the prevalence of tobacco use across the borough over a three-year period by increasing the number of smoke free environments, preventing the uptake of smoking and protecting the community from secondhand smoke.
As part of the tobacco control team’s continuing engagement and promotional work, 'No smoking day' recruitment events will run from 1-13 March across the borough.
The annual health campaign is set for Wednesday 10 March and will see over one million people set a quit date across the UK. Last year, the highly successful activity recruited over 1,300 people into the NHS Tower Hamlets stop smoking service.
Notes to editors
The platinum level Local Innovation Awards Scheme has been jointly established by Communities and Local Government (CLG), and the Local Government Association (LGA). The 'Local Innovation Awards' is a new scheme starting this year for celebrating the achievements of local councils working together with police forces, fire services, schools, primary care trusts and other community partners.
The aims of the scheme are to:
- identify, acknowledge and spread innovation and excellence,
- raise standards by promoting best practice through peer learning and knowledge transfer,
- improve services to make a real difference to quality of life and life chances for individuals and communities, and
- give national recognition to local, frontline services and partnerships.
NHS Tower Hamlets’ stop smoking service is provided by all GP practices, pharmacies, and also many local community organisations including the Bangladeshi Stop Tobacco Project and the specialist smoking cessation service. Anyone can access the network of trained and registered tobacco control advisers who offer support on a one-to-one or group basis using nicotine replacement therapy including patches, nasal spray, gum, microtabs and lozenges, as well as other medications vareniciline (Champix) and buproprion (Zyban).
Further information
For more information, please contact Anna Wilson, communications and marketing officer at NHS Tower Hamlets, on 020 7092 5200 or email anna.wilson@thpct.nhs.uk.
