Stop smoking team wins an award

ACCOLADE ... stop smoking advisors Pam Boal, Janice Ramshaw and Debra Wright.

AWARD-winning workers who help South Tynesiders quit smoking have scooped another accolade.

The specialist Stop Smoking Team employed by South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust works across the borough, Gateshead and Sunderland, and has been recognised in the No Smoking Day 2011 Organiser of the Year awards.

The team was named runner-up in the Best Workplace Activity category, for an event held in the restaurant at Sunderland Royal Hospital on No Smoking Day, which took place in March.

Last year, the team won the Best Use of a Health Setting category for a similar event at South Tyneside Hospital.

Pam Boal, specialist stop smoking advisor for secondary care, and Janice Ramshaw and Debra Wright, specialist advisors for pregnancy, saw more than 145 staff at Sunderland Royal and almost Сто members of the public on the day.

They toured wards, where they talked to families and highlighted the Take 7 Steps Out campaign, which is aimed at protecting about 80,000 children in the region from second-hand smoke in the home.

Team leader Maria Williams said: “There was a lot of positive feedback on the day, with staff, patients and visitors saying they found the advisors very knowledgeable and helpful, and they appreciated the fact that they could book an appointment to see one of our advisors with a view to quitting.”

The No Smoking Day Organiser of the Year awards honour those who help make the annual event a success.