Smoking ban ‘will widen health inequalities gap’, doctors claim

The government’s partial smoking ban will widen the health gap between the richest and poorest people in the UK, a study published in the British Medical Journal has claimed.

The research, conducted by a team at the Telford and Wrekin Primary Care Trust, found that pubs in the poorest areas of England were more likely to be exempt from the proposed smoking ban in England, than those in affluent areas.

The government’s proposed smoking ban contains exemptions for pubs that do not serve catered food and private members’ clubs.

The research team determined the catering status of pubs and licensed members’ establishments in the Borough of Telford and Wrekin, using local authority records, and mapped them by postcode to calculate a deprivation score.

The researchers found that, out of 174 pubs in the borough, only 99 (57%) served catered food, leaving 75 (43%) exempt from the ban. When licensed members’ clubs were counted, the number exempt from the ban rose to 127 (56%).

Based on these figures, the authors estimated that two-fifths of English pubs in deprived areas would be exempt, compared to only a four-fifths in affluent areas.

The authors of the report said that this would worsen health inequalities and urged the government to impose a complete ban on smoking in all enclosed public places in England.

The authors said: “Although this is a small study, our results suggest that people in deprived areas are more likely to live near pubs exempt from legislation to protect them against smoking. This is likely to worsen inequalities in health and smoking prevalence,”

“The UK government’s white paper Choosing Health estimates ‘only 10-30% of pubs could be smoking’ but our data suggest the proportion of exempt pubs is higher. We urge the UK government to ban smoking in all enclosed public places, similar to the ban proposed in Scotland and enacted in Ireland, to prevent worsening health.”

Commenting on the report, Dr Peter Maguire, the Deputy Chairman of the British Medical Association’s Board of Science said: “This paper shows that the government’s plans for a partial ban will penalise the poor and worsen health inequalities.

"The only way forward is for the Government to follow the leadership shown by politicians in Scotland, Ireland and Norway and impose a complete ban on smoking in all public places in England and Wales.

"The BMA urges the Government not to delay in implementing this legislation.”

(KMcA/SP)