Voucher scheme helps pregnant women quit smoking

Ashleigh Kaye has been given shopping vouchers to help her quit smoking

A national scheme which gives pregnant women shopping vouchers if they quit smoking has been an "unbelievable" success in Barnsley, a midwife has said.

Around 23% of pregnant women giving birth at Barnsley Hospital ten years ago were smokers but since the vouchers were introduced in 2022 the rate has fallen to 8%.

Midwife Becky Barker, who works on the scheme, said August had been the best month on record with smoking rates having dropped to 3%.

Mum Ashleigh Kaye, who started smoking when she was 14, said attempts to quit over the years had failed but with the support of midwives she had finally stopped.

Women are invited to take part in the National Smoke-free Pregnancy Incentive Scheme if a breath test shows they have high carbon monoxide levels.

They are asked to set a date by which they aim to quit with vouchers paid weekly over the first four weeks of that date and then monthly through to birth.

There are further incentives if they remain smoke-free after giving birth, with the maximum value of vouchers available set at £400.

Midwife Ms Barker said out of 279 births at Barnsley Hospital in August, only nine women were smoking at the time, which she described as "unbelievable".

'Not pressured or judged'

Now pregnant with her second child, Ashleigh said she had stopped smoking about eight weeks into the pregnancy and had used the vouchers to buy baby clothes.

"As soon as I found out I was pregnant this time, I was immediately put in contact with the stop smoking midwives because I knew that I didn't want to smoke during this pregnancy.

"I felt supported but not pressurised or judged."

The 29-year-old said although she had moved on to vapes, she was hoping to stop those too.

"I'm almost 20 weeks pregnant now so I'm hoping in the next 10 weeks I'm going to be able to become completely nicotine free."

Mum-to-be Natalie Simpson, who also started smoking at 14, said she had managed to switch to vapes eight weeks into her pregnancy after being surprised by her high carbon monoxide reading.

The 42-year-old said: "I did stop smoking for two years a while ago but then started back up again after going through a stressful time.

She added: "When they explained my score I thought wow, that's quite high.

"It was a shock and I decided then I wanted to stop."

Kaye Mann and Becky Barker help pregnant women quit smoking

Figures for the scheme show that for every £1 invested, it saves £4 in NHS costs by improving maternal and infant health outcomes and preventing long-term health issues.

Kaye Mann, from Barnsley Council's public health team, said: "The impact smoking has on the mother and the baby, and the cost of that is a lot more, so financially this scheme does make sense.

"Smoking is an addiction. These ladies are struggling, so we will do anything we can to help them quit."

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