Making smoking history together

About Fresh

Fresh was the UK’s first dedicated regional tobacco control programme, set up in the North East in 2005 to address (then) the worst rate of smoking-related illness and death in England.

Smoking rates in the North East have more than halved, from 29% of adults smoking in 2005 to 11% of adults smoking in 2023. However, the latest evidence shows that up to two in every three long-term smokers are killed by tobacco with over 125,000 deaths since the year 2000 in the North East.

Tobacco control has a strong and established evidence base that goes back several decades. The first major report on how to address smoking was Smoking and Health, by the Royal College of Physicians in 1962.

The best use of efforts at the population level is to focus on adult smokers, to raise motivation to quit and offer support, and in doing so to change the world our children grow up in.

We are never anti-smoker and recognise that smoking is an addiction that nearly always starts in childhood and smokers need support and encouragement to quit.

We have developed and ran award-winning and effective media campaigns such as Smoking Survivors, Don’t Wait, Quit 16, Don’t be the 1 and Keep It Out. We also monitor and respond to emerging issues and opportunities including illegal tobacco, vaping, smokefree housing and supporting the NHS to implement cost-effective life-saving guidance.

Fresh has been highlighted in national tobacco control plans and recognized by the World Health Organisation.

Fresh is a core member of the Smokefree Action Coalition calling for action at national level from smokefree legislation to standardised plain packaging and raising the age of sale on tobacco by a year every year.

Fresh is hosted by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust and based alongside the Balance programme. Together we are working to address the harms from both tobacco and alcohol.