A HOSPITAL campaign has seen a dramatic fall in the number of mothers who are still smoking at the time of delivery.
A project at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead has seen the number of mothers who smoke fall from more than 20 per cent to 15.1 per cent, below the North-East average of 18 per cent.
All maternity staff at the hospital are now trained in the Baby Clear project, which was designed to reduce the number of smoking mothers.
Mothers-to-be are also given CO2 monitoring when they first book in and at regular intervals through pregnancy and are referred to local smoking cessation services when appropriate.
Hilary Lloyd, Director of Nursing and Midwifery, said: “This is great news for mums in Gateshead. We’re always looking for ways that we can help to improve the health of mums and babies who come to our unit, and these figures show our improved training and monitoring really is making a difference."
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