Shocking figures on Shropshire smoking
Shocking figures of the number of people smoking in Shropshire show why the county should rethink cutting its cessation budget, a top councillor says.
Karen Calder was speaking at Wednesday's cabinet meeting when she asked colleagues to look again at retaining Help to Change.
The chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee said she realised the pressures that the authority was under to find savings.
But she asked if the council would look at ways of keeping a smoking cessation scheme, possibly under a Community Interest Company or working with the NHS and Shropshire's Clinical Commissioning Group.
Councillor Calder said: "There are 39,000 smokers in Shropshire which is higher than places like Dudley, Birmingham, Hereford, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.
"We may fare well nationally but we are certainly not doing well regionally. We are also fifth in the region for the number of women smoking in pregnancy."
She said that 35 per cent of deaths in Shropshire were related to cardio vascular problems, many of these preventable by lifestyle changes including stopping smoking. Another 27 per cent of deaths were due to cancer.
Councillor Lee Chapman said that Shropshire suffered from inequality of the share of UK money for health funding.
"We are doing everything that we can to manage our budget and fulfil our statutory commitments. We will look at every way we can and explore every avenue to ensure cessation support continues," he said.
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