CouncilFresh start - Smoking cessation support
Want to make a fresh start?
If you live or work in Tower Hamlets and would like support to stop smoking call the Tower Hamlets Smokers' Helpline on 0800 169 1943
There are many ways that you can be supported on your journey to stubbing out cigarettes for good. Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust provides a wide range of services for people living and working in the borough.
To make a start, call the smokers' helpline or visit your local pharmacist. You will be advised on support options ranging from one to one counselling to the specialist smoking clinic offering intensive C support to people who find it particularly difficult to quit. The smoking clinic is able to supply the latest medications such as Varenicline.
Help for vulnerable groups
The Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets has the highest smoking and tobacco chewing rates – 60 per cent of all Bangladeshi men in the borough smoke and 50 per cent of women chew tobacco in Paan, which is used as a digestive aid.
The Bangladeshi Tobacco Cessation Project provides culturally sensitive support. As well as providing nicotine replacement, advice and support, they are also able to provide male and female workers where appropriate. The majority of the service users are Bengali or Sylheti speaking.
Team member Shamsia Begum said: “We have been able to help more than 1,600 people over the last three years. We work in a flexible way with the community, providing home visits to the elderly and women who cannot access our services.
“We have helped people who are quite old and have smoked since they were 13 years old and they are delighted when they manage to give up. It improves their health and is a real achievement – we often get people calling us or dropping in to tell us how pleased they are.”
The Project is funded by Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust. It is a four week programme based on weekly meetings with members of the team. The meetings are followed up with regular phone calls or further meetings if needed.
The Bangladeshi Stop Tobacco Project and the PCT are working closely in collaboration with East London Mosque to provide a Stop Tobacco Service for visitors to the Mosque.
There are other specialist support groups offered by the Primary Care Trust including Neighbours in Poplar, which provides practical support and care for all vulnerable people living at home, regardless of age, race, gender, culture or disability.
The Ocean Somali Community Association provides services to support the Somali community and other local residents in Tower Hamlets. They have a number of smoking cessation advisers available.
Smoking is an important co-factor in the long- term health of those living with HIV as smoking increasing the risk from certain opportunistic infections. Positive East works to improve the health and quality of life for all individuals and communities infected and affected by the virus, offering one to one support to stop smoking.
Contact Details
Bangladeshi Stop Tobacco Project: 020 7377 8481
Neighbours in Poplar: 020 7987 0257
Ocean Somali Community Association: 020 7987 5833
Positive East: 020 377 8481
Individual Case Studies
Patricia Lewis
Patricia Lewis is a Governance and Risk Management Administrator for Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust
I started smoking when I was about 13 years old and I smoked about 20 a day for 44 years. I used to enjoy it, it was very much a social thing related to my social life. But I gave up for medical reasons. I had wanted to give up for a while as my chest was sometimes very tight, especially in the mornings. The fright of being asked by a doctor to give up “today” was the kick I needed.
It’s now exactly two years, two months and two weeks since I gave up by using sheer willpower. It was very hard at first but I got through it. I must admit though I do sometimes still have the urge to smoke but the urge soon passes.
At first I did eat more when I gave up, as this is the same motion as smoking, putting something to the mouth. Now I eat a lot more fruit during the day. Giving up has made a huge difference to my life. My breathing is so much better and I can actually taste what I am eating.
It wasn’t until I had given up that I realised how the smell of cigarette smoke lingers on clothes. Now I can smell if someone has been smoking as soon as they enter a room.
I also have much more money to spend now – I didn’t dream how much smoking cost me. Smoking isn’t a nice habit, people don’t realise what they are doing to their bodies and the health problems smoking can cause.
I know that giving up smoking can seem like an impossible challenge but after smoking for 44 years I can say that it is definitely worth it. If I could say one thing to people it would be to please try to given up smoking, you will notice the difference to your health and your pocket.
Simon Twite
Simon Twite, 39, works at Mile End Hospital as a public health advisor.
“I started smoking when I was about 18. I smoked about 20 a day, although it would be more if I was out socially in the evening. And I loved it - particularly the first coffee on a Sunday morning with a cigarette for example, or the first pint of an evening! But I was starting to experience health effects that made me realise I really needed to stop. Being less that 40 years old and hearing your chest rattle at night will affect even a smoker, who is fantastic at self-deception, eventually.
I was pretty sure that I didn’t have the willpower to quit outright so I decided to use nicotine replacement therapy. I’m finding that having a range of things available to help me is good – chewing gum while I’m at work and fairly removed from temptation, but then a faster acting thing such as the micro-tabs or nasal spray for times of great temptation such as being in the pub with friends.
When I first stopped I guess I was pretty unpleasant for a while; flying into irrational rages and being pretty crabby, but that passes. The times when I have the urge to smoke have become fewer and after just a couple of weeks I stopped having any urge to smoke at work.
You soon start to see the benefits of stopping. For the first few weeks it’s quite dramatic, for example, the blood supply to your extremities improves, so you have noticeably warmer and tingling hands. I don’t get the chest pains any more. And obviously, the fact that I’m saving about £200 a month is also great.
Although I have smoked on a couple of occasions since January, I think it’s important to keep going and I consider all my efforts to be quite a personal achievement.
I would really recommend that people contact the smoking cessation help and make use of the support available. I was sceptical of doing this at first but it has really helped me. Above all, be positive and keep reinforcing your achievement.
