New antenatal clinic in Doncaster to help stop smoking

Midwife Trina Ryan and health promotion practitioners Charlotte Critchley and Louise Jowett will be hosting the Health Perception Antenatal Clinic at Doncaster Women’s Hospital.

Trina said: “All pregnant women who smoke are referred to the Doncaster Stop Smoking in Pregnancy Service at first contact with their midwife. Midwives are trained to give all pregnant women advice about the risk of smoking and second-hand smoke in pregnancy. There are many risks, including miscarriage, pre-term labour, low birth weight and, sadly, stillbirth and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

“We have the time and opportunity at the clinic to hopefully prompt mums-to-be to try and stop. Louise and Charlotte are then on hand to support them on their smokefree journey, including helping them access free nicotine replacement therapy to help them quit.”

Launched this month as part October’s annual ‘Stoptober’ quit smoking initiative, the new clinic is a partnership between Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (DBHT) and Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH).

The aim is to reduce the number of expectant Doncaster mums who smoke during pregnancy. Currently, between 350 and 400 babies are delivered every month in Doncaster, with some 16 per cent of them being born to mums who smoke. The target is to cut the figure to six per cent by 2022.

And it seems that advice from the ‘smokebusters’ is being well received, as four mums-to-be set quit smoking dates at one recent clinic.

In addition, a key piece of new equipment is currently unable to be used due to Covid-19 restrictions but is set to be a powerful hi-tech visual aid when it eventually comes into service, as Emma Dickinson, Health Visiting Team Leader at RDaSH, explains.

“It’s a mouthpiece linked to a digital monitor that, when breathed into by a smoker, graphically shows the effect of carbon monoxide on a baby in the womb. The more information we can give mums-to-be about the risks of smoking during pregnancy, the better equipped they will be to make informed decisions.”