QOF Plus Year 1 - Imperial College London

Health impactThere are significant health gains to both foetus and mother associated with cessation of smokingin pregnancy. Walsh et al. (1996) estimated that that if all pregnant women stopped smoking, a10% reduction in infant and foetal deaths would be seen.Workload and training implicationsCollecting the data required for the indicators proposed should be a routine part of communityantenatal care. A survey by Bishop et al. (1998) found that time constraints meant thatprofessionals felt they did not have sufficient time to consider smoking cessation, and reportedthat health professionals felt under-resourced in terms of finances and numbers of staff. Trainingfor primary care staff in offering brief interventional advice would support delivery of theseindicators. For details of the proposed training package see section 14.3.3 (p93).42