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ASH Daily News

10 December 2003

HEADLINES

+ Wanless Interim Report
+ Wanless Report calls for preventative NHS
+ Brown signals care shake up
+ MP wants workplace smoke ban
+ Colchester MP Bob Russell calls for a total ban on smoking at work
+ Ipswich smokefree initiative
+ France jails British smugglers
+ Letters


FULL TEXT


+ Wanless Interim Report

Ministers have been warned that the government must tackle obesity and unhealthy living if it is to avoid a financial time bomb in the NHS. In an interim report, Derek Wanless warned that obesity, binge drinking and smoking could put a serious strain on the health service.

The report is likely to result in ministers launching a fresh drive against the risks of unhealthy living.

The move comes when MPs on the health select committee are pressing supermarkets and food producers to do more to tackle the soaring problem of obesity.

In his study Wanless, who conducted an earlier inquiry into health spending, concluded that "responsibility for public health lies with a wide range of individuals and organisations".

A key concern was the shift over the last century from infectious diseases to chronic diseases. "Chronic diseases, such as [Coronary Heart Disease] and cancer, are also strongly related to lifestyle factors such as smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity and alcohol," said the report. "There is a strong social gradient to the prevalence of many of these risk factors, particularly for smoking."

The report set out the case for a "fully engaged" commitment to improving public health - a scenario which would produce better outcomes for patients and would also reduce the costs for the NHS. "In absolute expenditure terms the gap between the best and worst scenarios is large - around £30 billion by 2022/23," said the report.

Interim Wanless Report:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media//CA708/wanless_health_trends.pdf

Source: ePolitix, 10 December 2003



+ Wanless Report calls for preventative NHS

Unhealthy lifestyles, poverty and an ageing population will pose the greatest burdens on the NHS over the next 20 years, according to Derek Wanless, the former banker who advises the government on health service spending.

Full article:
http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth/story/0,11098,1103246,00.html
Source: Society Guardian, 9 December 2003



+ Brown signals care shake up

The chancellor, Gordon Brown, yesterday signalled big plans to shake up Britain's preventative healthcare system when he published a report from his specialist adviser Derek Wanless identifying poor working class lifestyle as a root cause of health inequalities.

In his interim report, Mr Wanless said he would bring forward proposals early next year setting out the government action required to defeat the big shift in the burden of disease from the infectious diseases of 19th century to the chronic diseases of the 20th century.

Full Guardian article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,3605,1103487,00.html
Source: The Guardian, 10 December 2003

Guardian Leader on Public Health and Wanless Report:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,1103597,00.html



+ MP wants workplace smoke ban

Midland MP Michael Fabricant has joined the debate over smoking with a call for a complete ban in the workplace.

He said the letting employers make their own rules had failed, and the Government should pass new laws to ensure no worker had to breathe the second- hand smoke of a colleague.

It follows a call by the 13 Royal Colleges of Medicine, who called on the Government to legislate against smoking in all workplaces - at the earliest to home in on the area and settle.

Source: Birmingham Post, 10 December 2003



+ Colchester MP Bob Russell calls for a total ban on smoking at work

His call follows news on Tuesday that smoking could be banned in pubs, clubs and restaurants in Ipswich, Suffolk, if the Ipswich Primary Care Trust (PCT) proposal wins support.

Mr Russell, a Liberal Democrat, said a ban in workplaces was "very reasonable if you don't smoke and you don't want to breath in somebody else's smoke".

"If they (smokers) want to end their own lives prematurely, that's their concern," he said. "My concern is those dieing breathing in somebody else's smoke." Mr Russell is backing a House of Commons motion asking the government to follow the example of Ireland, where smoking is banned in the workplace.

In Ipswich, the PCT wants to debate the idea of increasing smoke-free zones around the town to help prevent illnesses caused by smoking and passive smoking.

Healthcare officials will be meeting with businesses and property owners to determine if there is a consensus towards smoke-free areas.

Full article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/3305757.stm
Source: BBC Online, 10 December 2003



+ Ipswich smokefree initiative

Ipswich could soon be a smoking-free zone if ambitious plans being developed by a
healthcare provider are given enough support.

Ipswich Primary Care Trust (PCT) hope to persuade businesses in the town to join them in the battle to stub out smoking in public places.

The move follows other recent high-profile anti-smoking campaigns - including a call by leading medical journal The Lancet for smoking to be outlawed completely.

Terry Ward, PCT corporate director, said: "There's a movement across the country at the moment to try and establish smoke-free areas to help protect the health of the general public.

"What we are trying to do is create a consensus among the owners of buildings and businesses that areas used by the public are increasingly made smoke-free areas.

"Clearly, it's an area in which we can only really go forward in partnership with others and we will try to build a consensus with both public and private sector organisations.

Full article linked from:
http://www.tobacco.org/news/145983.html
Source: East Anglian Daily Times, 9 December 2003



+ France jails British smugglers

Four British men who tried to smuggle 6.4 tonnes of contraband cigarettes through France and Belgium into England were Monday each sentenced to four years in prison and a EUR 5,000 (USD 6,000) fine.

The men, aged from 34 to 50, were convicted of planning to get the haul, worth an estimated EUR 1 million, into Britain from Le Havre, western France, where it was delivered by ship from Cambodia on October 1.

One of the men was to drive a truck with the container to Belgium while the other three were to drive ahead in a car to ensure the road was clear, the state prosecutor, Renaud Gaudeul, said.

Source: AFP, 10 December 2003



+ Letters

In contributing to Society Guardian's Think Tank column, Dame Yve Buckland, chairwoman of the Health Development Agency had suggested that NHS hospitals lead the way in banning smoking in banning smoking in public places. Dr John R Davies from Morecambe Bay and Dr Peter Bradley for Milton Keynes write in to offer their experiences of smoking and hospitals:
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,7843,1103137,00.html

Several people write in to The Times on the subject of banning tobacco, as was proposed by the Lancet recently:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-44-925817,00.html

Ken Livingstone writes in to the Evening Standard, accusing the publication of misrepresenting his views on smoking in public places, insisting that he is not "virulently anti-smoking", that he is not calling for a ban on smoking in public places, nor has he the powers to affect such a ban.


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