Beauty Pregnant

 Beauty Pregnant - Pregnant women who smoke are to be offered gift vouchers and beauty treatments to encourage them to quit under proposals by an NHS trust.

The incentives, which also include baby goods, will be given to those women who are able to prove they have successfully kicked the habit.

Telford and Wrekin NHS Trust in Shropshire plan to role out a pilot scheme soon, having already agreed to the idea in principle.

But they have been warned that the move could prove controversial by some who see it as the health service rewarding bad behaviour.

Expectant mums who agree to the trials will undergo various examinations, such as carbon monoxide monitoring, a breath test which will show if someone has recently smoked.

Samples of urine and saliva may also be taken to prove that their bodies are free of nicotine and other harmful substances found in cigarettes.

Dr Kevin Lewis, director of Shropshire's Help 2 Quit service, which is calling for the scheme, said there were big health benefits to be gained from encouraging pregnant smokers to quit.

It would help improve live birth rates, result in better health for newborn babies, and cut NHS treatment costs.

Dr Lewis said studies had shown people needed motivation to help them give up smoking and that simply highlighting the dangers of smoking in pregnancy was not always enough.

He said: 'One of these motivators can be in the form of rewards.

'It might be something like a £5 gift voucher - and they receive these if they maintain quitting from smoking and that would be tested to make sure that they have.

'You would think that after all the knowledge there is out there now about the health risks from smoking - not only to yourself but also to the unborn child - that that would be enough to motivate people.








But we are dealing with an addiction and we are dealing with human behaviour and we just know from the studies that people are often not as motivated by the benefits to future health as they are by the here and now.' Beauty Pregnant