North Lancashire Stop Smoking Funding
Tobacco is the single most important, entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability, and death in England with up to 80,000 deaths per year. The impact of smoking is extensive across our communities and is closely linked to health inequalities. Smokers have a recorded life expectancy that is at least 10 years shorter than non-smokers, with the effects being more pronounced among disadvantaged groups.
While smoking rates are generally reducing over time nationally, according to the latest GPPS data Lancashire smoking rates are significantly higher than the England average (13.6% v 14.5%) with North Lancashire recording an estimated prevalence of 15%, making Lancaster district the third highest across Lancashire.
As a result of the higher estimated prevalence in our area, Lancashire County Council has devolved funding to Lancaster City Council who are working with a collaborative group including the district’s ICC Development Leads, LDCVS, and Smokefree Lancashire, with the aim of engaging smokers to quit.
Scope
Grants of up to £25,000 are available for community organisations to either:
- set up as Stop Smoking Hubs and host Smokefree Champions, and deliver related activities and campaigns for a period of twelve months, or
- create partnership projects where organisations deliver activities and campaigns alongside other organisations that want to become Hubs with Champions or are already hosting Smokefree Lancashire provision.
Project Aims
The North Lancashire Stop Smoking project aims to:
- increase the number of smokers accessing the Smokefree Lancashire service,
- Increase the number of people setting a quit date,
- Increase the number of people quitting,
- increase the number of smokefree homes in the district,
- reduce the smoking prevalence in the district, and
- reduce the number of people starting smoking.
Stop Smoking Hubs
Organisations applying for funding to set up as Hubs must:
- Recruit new staff or volunteers as Smokefree Champions, or nominate existing staff or volunteers as Smokefree Champions. Champions must undertake Smokefree Lancashire Very Brief Advice (VBA) training with the opportunity for some staff and volunteers to be trained as qualified advisors via NCFT in the future.
- Target known smokers in their community to encourage their participation.
- Support smokers to access the Smokefree Lancashire single referral pathway.
- Host and promote a Smokefree Lancashire clinic or provide support for people to attend existing clinics.
Additional Activities
Organisations may also run additional activities such as:
- Events promoting giving up smoking, encouraging people to set and stick to a quit date. The cost of events can include activities to encourage people to attend, children’s activities to enable parents to come along, food, and similar costs.
- Activities for quitters that provide distraction from smoking or are benefitted by stopping smoking e.g. social groups, exercise classes, sports, games, outdoor activities and utilisation of green spaces etc..
- Sources of additional support such as peer support meetings, WhatsApp groups etc..
- Anything else which might be successful in encouraging people to quit.
Support
A drop-in session will be held on Tuesday 24 June at The Cornerstone (Sulyard Street, Lancaster), between 4pm and 6pm. This is your opportunity to:
- learn more about this funding opportunity,
- find out about the importance of partnership working in relation to this opportunity and how it will help ensure the best value for money,
- share ideas, and
- build connections and partnerships.
There is no need to book to attend, however to give us an idea about numbers we’d be grateful if you indicated your interest by emailing [email protected]
Next Steps
Download and read the full guidance, which is available here.
We will accept applications from 10am on 16 June until 11:59pm on 6 July.
Apply by creating an account at morecambebay.grantplatform.com
This secure service allows you to work on your application, saving and returning to it as many times as you like before submitting. It is also where we will record information we create regarding your application and anything else you send us while you are delivering your project.
You can review the entire form before you start answering questions.
