UK MUM Awards 2025

The Nomination:

Suffolk and Northeast Essex (SNEE) LMNS developed an enhanced smokefree pregnancy pathway for pregnant people and their partners / household members to quit smoking during their pregnancy. The pathway was developed in collaboration with pregnant women who smoked in the ICB footprint who told us that they felt embarrassed to discuss smoking, found it difficult to give up when partners or household members smoked, found it hard to remain smokefree postnatally, and would welcome support at home with products sent out to them.

Ongoing feedback from women and their families is received via the ICB engagement platform and other medias. Responses to feedback has led to ongoing pathway improvement and tailoring the changes to the local population.

A team of newly recruited specialist smokefree midwives and maternity support workers are based in local geographical areas across the ICB. They offer service users behavioural support, free vape/ NRT (supported by NEE & Suffolk County Councils), healthy pregnancy education, infant feeding and safer sleeping advice, as well as signposting to address wider determinants of health and concerns such as mental health and safeguarding. The key elements of the model are exploring the root cause of the person’s addiction and using a user-focused support programme during their quit journey.

The pathway has seen high engagement levels, halving of the LMNS smoking at time of delivery rates so that it is now below the national target rate of 6%, and is demonstrating a positive impact on the previously rising preterm birth rate. The impact is improved health outcomes for women and families, reducing the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth and small for gestational age babies. Babies have a reduced risk of long-term respiratory conditions, obesity, becoming a smoker themselves, and from cardiovascular, respiratory or endocrine disease/ diabetes as an adult; thus improving the nation’s health. Service user feedback is positive of the household approach with many women telling us about the positive impacts on both women and family’s health, many of whom are affected by inequality and deprivation.

The teams are supported by the LMNS lead; meeting regularly via Teams, and a quarterly workshop is held to bring all team members together from across the system to encourage peer support and to collectively develop plans for the next three months. The MSWs, midwives, community matrons, and LMNS leads all bring ideas, agree actions, and take ownership to complete them on behalf of the whole service. It is a team where everyone’s contribution is valued and respected.