It’s time to take the blinkers off: Racing organisations support a stop smoking campaign targeted towards Newmarket residents.

The West Suffolk Alliance and OneLife Suffolk have collaborated with racing organisations and local people to launch a stop smoking campaign targeted towards residents in Newmarket, with specific emphasis on those working in the racing industry. This eight-week campaign aims to increase the number of people in Newmarket setting a quit date and highlights the free smoking cessation support available through OneLife Suffolk. 

Clear need for support

The West Suffolk Alliance identified a need for this campaign following a Place Based Needs Assessment (PBNA) that stated smoking prevalence was significantly higher in the Newmarket area. The headquarters of racing has a smoking prevalence of 18.6%, compared to the national average (16.7%) and the localities within the West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group (16.5%). Almost one in five registered patients at local GP surgeries are smokers. The PBNA allows Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INTs) to better understand the area’s health by looking at wider influencing factors, such as housing, education, and poverty, allowing for a community-based, evidenced-led approach. 

The campaign resources include eight designs available in various formats, created in collaboration with Newmarket-based racing organisations such as Racing Together, Racing Welfare, The Jockey Club, and The British Racing School, who provided feedback to help develop these unique designs. These designs are being shared weekly and you can find all the resources on OneLife Suffolk’s website: Newmarket Stop Smoking Campaign 2021 – OneLife Suffolk.

Racing key to communicating message

With three weeks left to go, the campaign has been received positively by local racing organisations. From news posts on websites, sharing social media posts, resources displayed in the workplace, to OneLife Suffolk’s practitioners attending COVID-19 vaccination clinics at the racing centres, the campaign has been recognised for its unique, targeted approach. The partners will look to build on the momentum of collaborative working, engaging with wider networks to explore further opportunities to support the people of Newmarket.  

If you or someone you know in the Newmarket area would benefit from OneLife Suffolk’s free Stop Smoking service, please visit the campaign page, which includes more information and details on how to sign up