No ifs no buts: Improving services for Tobacco Control
Smoking is the single most preventable cause of death and ill health in England. Half of all smokers will die prematurely as a result of smoking and this year alone several hundred non-smoking adults will die from breathing in second hand smoke. One in four adults continues to smoke, and the figures for young people are worryingly high – 10% of girls and 7% of boys were regular smokers in 2005.
Smoking disproportionately affects the poorest members of society, owing to differences in culture and lifestyle, and is therefore a primary cause of inequalities in health. It also places a great burden on the NHS: treatment of smoking related illness has been estimated to cost the NHS up to £1.7 billion every year.
This improvement review looked specifically at the performance of the 303 primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. It had three key aims:
- to assess the systems that PCTs had in place to determine the health needs of their local populations in relation to smoking
- to examine how these needs were being met through the provision of smoking cessation services (whether provided or commissioned by the PCT) and the promotion of tobacco control
- to examine how PCTs discharged their public health responsibilities and implemented workplace practices and policies to improve the health of their employees with regard to tobacco control
Detailed Results
Detailed results are listed by region and highlight where PCTs have performed well and where they can improve.
Find out more about the results of the review - all England (pdf 48kb) (opens new window)
Find out more about the results of the review - Central region (pdf 29kb) (opens new window)
Find out more about the results of the review - London and south east (pdf 23kb) (opens new window)
Find out more about the results of the review - North (pdf 25kb) (opens new window)
Find out more about the results of the review - South West (pdf 33kb) (opens new window)
Access the full detailed results of the review including underlying data (opens new window)
To view these detailed results, you will need to download the Instant Atlas software.
Find out more about Instant Atlas software (pdf 21kb) (opens new window)
About this review
Tobacco control improvement review assessment framework (pdf 169kb) (opens new window)
Detailed scoring assessment framework guidance notes (pdf 469kb) (opens new window)
Planning improvement
The review showed that PCTs are getting the basics right, with no trusts scoring the lowest rating of ‘weak’. No trusts were therefore required to continue into the next phase of the review, called plan improvement. The Healthcare Commission does, however, encourage all trusts to develop action plans to improve areas of weakness that have been identified in the review.
Improvement reviews: Plan improvement frequently asked questions (pdf 301kb) (opens new window)
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