Health chiefs hand out perks to stay off cigarettes in pregnancy
PREGNANT women who smoke are to be offered vouchers and other incentives, worth ?50 a month, to kick their habit.
The scheme is being introduced by NHS Tayside in Dundee, which has one of the highest rates of smoking among expectant women in Scotland.
Almost one in two pregnant women in deprived areas of Dundee continue to smoke.
Smokers will receive vouchers to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, free access to leisure centres, creche facilities, relaxation classes and cinema tickets provided they stay off the cigarettes during their pregnancy.
Under the ?100,000 scheme incentives will also be offered for up to three months after they give birth.
To qualify for the payments, the expectant mothers will have to prove they are staying smoke-free and will have to pass weekly breath tests for carbon monoxide levels in their lungs.
Andrew Radley, the lead pharmacist in NHS Tayside's directorate of public health, said Dundee had one of the worst incidences of smoking by expectant mothers in Scotland and that new ways had to be found to tackle the problem.
Forty per cent of the 3,500 births in each year in Tayside are in Dundee, but 70 per cent of the mothers who smoke during pregnancy come from the city.
Smoking during pregnancy has been linked to very low birth-weight babies, heightened risks of premature birth and the risk of late foetal death.
Mr Radley said NHS Tayside had been inspired to try the initiative by a reward scheme which had been running successfully in Blantyre in Lanarkshire for three years to encourage mothers to breast feed.
"We have quite a hill to climb. It is very difficult for women who continue to smoke during pregnancy to stop by themselves," he said. "Across the population only 6 to 8 per cent manage to stop by themselves.
"But these new incentives are aimed at encouraging people, from poor families largely, to take steps towards better health. These are not cash rewards. They are incentives which actually improve the health of them and their families."
Mr Radley denied that women were being offered "bribes" to quit. "We are supporting people from disadvantaged areas to assume a healthier way of living," he said.
Shona Robison, the MSP for Dundee East and the Scottish National Party's health spokeswoman, said: "NHS Tayside are to be commended for looking at news ways of tackling what is a very stark problem and does need to be addressed, given the well recorded health effects on the unborn babies."
She said she was concerned about some of the practical effects of the proposals which she planned to discuss with the health authority.
"The scheme may have unintended consequences and pregnant women in deprived areas who don't smoke may feel a little aggrieved that they are being denied access to free grocery vouchers and other incentives, given that they may have already stopped smoking or indeed have never smoked. They might feel it is a bit unfair."
At a glance: the incentives to stop
WOMEN taking part will get vouchers for groceries and other rewards such as free access to leisure facilities up to a total maximum value of ?50 a month.
They will be offered places on stress and relaxation classes and the assistance of "telephone buddies" to encourage them to stay off cigarettes, as well as access to other support services.
About 250 women are expected to take part in the project and it is hoped up to 80 will stay smoke-free throughout their pregnancy.
