Southwest Guidance for Delivering Smoke Free Homes
The new SW guidance on Smoke-Free Homes was developed by a team of expert practitioners and commissioners from across the South West and led by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. The guidance was developed regionally as a South West ADPH Sector-led Improvement (SLI) programme.
The purpose of the SLI programme was to further reduce infant exposure to smoking-related harms by developing a regional approach to Health Visitor support to families postnatally to establish and maintain smoke free homes. This guidance builds on the NHS maternity smoke free pathway and contains minimum and best practice recommendations in six areas:
- Midwifery to Health Visitor handover
- Carbon monoxide monitoring
- Training
- Resources
- Referrals
- Data collection and monitoring
The request to all local authority commissioners is to review the standards with their providers and incorporate those where needed and affordable through local contract variation and other processes, with particular consideration given to funding use of CO monitors for Health Visitors.
Reviewing the impact of implementing this guidance and sharing the learning from local implementation will take place through the SW Tobacco Control Network.
This SLI programme is one of a number SLI programmes within the SW Association of Directors of Public Health. SLI is the approach to improvement put in place by local authorities, the Association of Directors of Public Health and the Local Government Association. It aims to ensure demonstrable and continuous improvement to public health practice.