Trust smoking rates for pregnant mums highest in UK

Smoking rates among pregnant mums in Wakefield are the highest in the country.
Smoking rates among pregnant mums in Wakefield are the highest in the country.Smoking rates among pregnant mums in Wakefield are the highest in the country.
Smoking rates among pregnant mums in Wakefield are the highest in the country.

Figures from the Mid Yorkshire NHS Hospitals Trust, which runs Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury hospitals, revealed that 20 per cent of expectant women use cigarattes at the time of booking their first pre-natal appointment.At the time of giving birth, 16 per cent are still smoking.

The numbers were discussed at a meeting of the trust’s board on Thursday.

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Simon Harrison, a non-executive director at the trust said the statistics were “alarming”.

He said: “These are the highest rates by quite some way of all the trusts in the country.

“This is obviously a public health issue. Is this something that’s being flagged up across the agencies (who work with the trust) because these figures are quite alarming?”

Chief executive Martin Barkley said: “These figures are reflected in the (smoking rates of) the local population as a whole.

“What I do know is that this issue is being looked at by the Wakefield Health and Wellbeing Board.”