Partnership programme to stop smoking before it starts

The WHaM Smoking in Pregnancy (SiP) team have been working closely with Evidence to Impact, a not-for-profit company who deliver the INTENT programme. INTENT targets adolescents who have never smoked to prevent them starting, and run courses with to engage young people with anti-smoking messages, then creating personal plans to help them refuse an offer of cigarettes.

The team have been active in sharing and showcasing the programme with system colleagues in respiratory health, and have been successful in securing funding to commission this as a pilot across high-risk areas. This has resulted from successful partnership working with the Beyond Children and Young People's Transformation programme, and it delivers on our shared goals of reducing smoking in pregnancy by preventing young people from starting smoking.

Areas with high rates of smoking and also teenage pregnancy have been identified, with the programme soon being rolled out to 40 schools across Cheshire and Merseyside.