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** 22 November 2023
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** UK
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** ICSs told to prepare ‘nuclear’ service cuts as NHSE plays ‘hardball’ (#1)
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** Hull hospital hands out vapes in anti-smoking drive (#2)
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** Opinion: I lost more than a stone- but more action is needed to tackle obesity (#3)
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** International
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** Sri Lanka: Sale of three flavored cigarette products stopped with immediate effect (#4)
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** Australian retail lobby groups refuse to disclose amount of funding from tobacco and vaping industries (#5)

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** UK
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** ICSs told to prepare ‘nuclear’ service cuts as NHSE plays ‘hardball’

Health systems are still struggling to meet their financial plans, despite hundreds of millions being raided from investment budgets to help balance the books.

Senior leaders in most regions said the cash falls short of their existing financial gaps.
Earlier this month, NHS England announced that £800m would be made available to integrated care systems to offset the additional cost of strikes. This largely came from shifting money from tech and capital budgets, after the Treasury refused to meet the costs.

HSJ understands ICSs reported a combined deficit that was £1.5bn worse than planned in the six months to October, which implies a gap of several hundred million pounds unless systems can report substantial surpluses for the second half of the year.

ICSs have been ordered to submit new plans today detailing how they will recover their positions.

HSJ spoke to senior sources in all seven regions, with more than half saying their systems would still fail to deliver breakeven, despite the funding transfers.
A source in the South East said their system’s share of the funding “won’t touch the sides”, adding that NHSE was playing “hardball”.

Another local source said they had identified a set of “nuclear options” to balance the books, but these would be “catastrophic for quality of care and/or nigh-on impossible to deliver”.

Sarah Walter, director of the NHS Confederation’s ICS network, said: “Cutting crucial budgets to plug the deficit left by industrial action may improve ICSs financial positions in the short-term, but risks undermining the NHS’s financial sustainability in the longer-term.”

Source: HSJ, 22 November 2023
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** Hull hospital hands out vapes in anti-smoking drive

A hospital is handing out free vapes in an attempt to persuade staff and visitors to give up smoking.

The "Swap and Stop" initiative was held outside Hull Royal Infirmary.
Recent figures show that more that one in five people in Hull are smokers, the second highest rate in England.

Wendy Krstenic, Nurse Director at Hull University Teaching Hospitals, said despite the hospital being smoke free since 2006, many people still struggled to kick the habit.
"This new supportive approach gives people the opportunity to try a less harmful alternative to tobacco, rather than just telling them not to smoke, which we know doesn't work," she said.

"You never know, it may inspire that person to try swapping cigarettes for a vape completely, which will significantly improve their health".

Dave Jones from the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board said one in six people in Hull would die because of smoking, "You can talk about statistics all you like until it's your nan or your mum or your brother or your best friend who is poorly, or who unfortunately has died," he said.

"It's all part of that let's take responsibility for what essentially is the biggest killer of people in Hull."

Source: BBC, 21 November 2023
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** Opinion: I lost more than a stone- but more action is needed to tackle obesity

Daily Mail columnist and former MP Nadine Dorries writes about her experience with being overweight, eventually resulting in her being pre-diabetic.

Dorries says that in the UK this is not uncommon, with 500,000 people out of work due to health problems caused by eating poorly, drinking too much alcohol or smoking. This costs the economy £31 billion.

Dorries says that “choosing to live well isn’t easy in the rush of modern living” where we are constantly exposed to adverts for unhealthy food and junk food can be delivered to our homes at the click of a button. Dorries adds that the food, drink and tobacco industry profit from this situation and will do a lot to counter or distort the narrative regarding health.

Dorries writes that the situation has now escalated to such a point where government intervention is necessary. She urges politicians to take action to “protect us from those who have no interest in the nation's health but only in cashing in on Sick Britain.”

Source: The Daily Mail, 20 November 2023

Figures taken from : ASH, AHA, OHA- Holding us back: tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink ([link removed]) .
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** International
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** Sri Lanka: Sale of three flavored cigarette products stopped with immediate effect

The sale of three types of flavored cigarette products distributed by Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) has been stopped with immediate effect.

Accordingly, the sale of Dunhill Switch, Dunhill Double Capsule and John Player Gold Pro Cool cigarettes has been stopped.

This step has been taken since November 17.

A case was filed by the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) in Matara, Colombo and Anuradhapura on September 1, 2016 in terms of the Gazette notification of 1982 (33).

In line with the NATA Act, regulations were introduced by former Health Minister Rajitha Senarathne under Section 30 read with Section 33 of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act, No. 27 of 2006. As set out in the gazette, smokeless tobacco products or mixtures that contain tobacco any flavored, coloured or sweetened cigarette that contains tobacco or any electronic cigarette that contains tobacco is prohibited.

Source: The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), 22 November 2023

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** Australian retail lobby groups refuse to disclose amount of funding from tobacco and vaping industries

Lobby groups representing convenience and grocery stores have refused to tell a Senate inquiry how much they receive in tobacco and vaping industry funding.

The failure to disclose industry funding – with the lobby groups saying they owe a duty of confidence over the information – follows public hearings into the public health (tobacco and other products) bill earlier in November and comes as concerns are raised about one lobby group having a parliamentary access pass.

If introduced, the reforms will see updated and improved graphic warnings added to tobacco packaging and included on individual cigarettes, and specific additives in tobacco and vaping products, like menthols, banned.

Neither the chief executive of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS), Theo Foukkare, or the chief executive of Master Grocers Australia (MGA), David Inall, disclosed the value of the funding their groups received from the vaping or tobacco industries, despite being asked to provide any such information in conflict-of-interest statements prior to attending.

The AACS represents convenience stores and petrol stations, while the MGA is the industry association for independent grocery and convenience stores. Both groups have corporate members including tobacco companies, and both groups supported tobacco industry campaigning against plain packaging reforms.

During the inquiry’s public hearings, Foukkare and Inall said proposed tobacco and vaping reforms would fuel the illicit markets, a claim rejected by health experts who gave evidence.

Co-chief executive ofthe Australian Council on Smoking and Health, Geraldine Mellet, whose organisation also gave evidence to the inquiry, said the failure of the AACS and MGA to disclose the amount of such funding was unacceptable given tobacco companies are known to fund groups to lobby against reforms.

“Commercial in confidence should not apply here to public health,” she said.
“It is of the utmost relevance that the Senate Committee have all the facts at their disposal to know the extent of their relationships and influence with industry and who’s really speaking. Without that, how can the Senate possibly consider their evidence?”

Source: The Guardian, 20 November 2023

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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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