The value of providing support to local tobacco control alliances
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Author(s)
David Robertson and Janet Wilson
Presenter(s)
Led by David Robertson Alliances Manager and STCA Coordinator, ASH Scotland
Abstract
Does your charity, health board, PCT, local authority provide logistical support to a local tobacco control alliance?
Local alliance activity could be under threat from the cuts and reorganisation but you know that coordinated tobacco control to reduce smoking prevalence is worth the investment. Share your own positive news about local alliances after learning the lessons from ASH Scotland’s national local tobacco control project.
A nationally managed project with a strategic overview can increase awareness and enable those working at a local level to make use of the opportunities which developments in government policy and legislation provide. The work of the project contributed to the increase in local tobacco control alliances in Scotland and to the increased diversity of organisations engaged.
Giving practitioners working at a local level recognition of the value of their work encourages innovation and commitment to further development. Quite often those involved in work at a local level are not aware of the significance of the work that they are developing and delivering. Working in a target-focused environment with reducing resources can often mask the success of particular pieces of work. This project provided the opportunity for practitioners to celebrate success and share this with others who used it to inform and enhance their own work.
Local alliances covering all aspects of tobacco control can bring value to stop-smoking services by increasing the quantity and diversity of referrals; for example, by engaging debt advisory services and housing associations in referral and by allowing stop-smoking practitioners opportunities to input into enforcement and health education design and delivery.
Source of funding: The Local Alliance Project was funded by the Scottish Government and NHS Health Scotland.
