Smoking rates among mums-to-be in the North West are at an all-time low thanks to support from NHS teams.

This year saw the biggest annual fall in smoking during pregnancy in the North West since records began, meaning 873 fewer pregnant women smoked in the region compared to the previous 12 months, protecting hundreds of babies from potential harm.

NHS England is working to ensure all maternity services can offer pregnant woman who smoke specialist support to quit – with focused treatment including nicotine replacement therapy. More than 90% of inpatient and maternity services are now delivering smoking cessation services for patients.

The most recent Statistics on Women’s Smoking Status at Time of Delivery shows that in the North West, 8.4% of women were known to be smokers at the end of their pregnancy in 2023/24 – down on last year, when the rate was 10.3%. The number of women smoking in pregnancy nationally also reduced significantly from 8.8% in 2022/23 to 7.4% in 2023/24.

Smoking whilst pregnant is extremely dangerous as inhaling carbon monoxide, a harmful chemical present in cigarette smoke, reduces the amount of oxygen getting to the baby in the womb and increases the chance of miscarriage, stillbirth and sudden infant death.

Pregnant smokers are being urged to access dedicated NHS support to help them quit – including nicotine replacement therapy and electronic checks to test their exposure to carbon monoxide.

Claire Mathews, Chief Midwife for NHS England – North West, said: “It is extremely encouraging to see that the number of pregnant women smoking has reached an all-time low, with thanks to our brilliant teams of midwives and the specialist support we provide to expectant mums through our maternity services.”

“We want to help even more pregnant women to live smokefree and will continue to provide dedicated support to anyone accessing our maternity services – so if you are considering having a baby or recently pregnant and looking for support to quit, please do speak to your maternity team, they are here to help.”

NHS Greater Manchester ICB launched their Smokefree Pregnancy programme in 2018, which aims to tackle health inequalities, improve health and wellbeing, and ultimately save babies’ lives.

Since the programme started, smoking at time of delivery has dropped by over a third, from 12.6% in 2017-18 to 7.7% in 2023-24. During the last six years, the Greater Manchester Smokefree Pregnancy programme has supported more than 6,000 pregnant women, and their partners, to quit smoking.

Andrew Furber, Regional Director of Public Health for NHS England – North West said: “Smoking is incredibly harmful to our health, especially during pregnancy, so I’m pleased to see the number of people smoking whilst pregnant is at a record low and that our local teams are putting services and initiatives in place to support women to stop smoking before, during and after pregnancy.”

The NHS supports the government’s ambition for a smoke-free UK, with a focus on stopping people from starting to smoke.

NHS England’s latest Statistics on Public Health report, published yesterday (20 August 2024), shows there were 412,536 prescription items dispensed to help smokers give up the habit, a decrease of 42% from 2019/20 (709,968) and 69% lower than 2014/15 (1,348,162).

Smoking rates are continuing to fall – the most recent Health Survey for England found 13% of adults said they smoked cigarettes in 2022, compared to 27% in 1993.

Adults living in the most deprived areas were more likely to smoke than those living in the least deprived areas. About one in five adults living in deprived areas smoked (21%), compared to just under one in 10 of those in the least deprived areas (9%).

Separate recent data showed that in 2023-24, 104,125 people successfully quit using Stop Smoking Services in England.

Information on NHS services to help people to stop smoking is available on the NHS.uk website.