ONE in ten pregnant women were smokers at the time of delivery in Herefordshire and Worcestershire according to new figures.

NHS England figures for the former NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire CCG show 591 of 6,541 mothers were smokers (nine per cent) at the time of delivery in 2022-23.

This was above the national ambition of six per cent or less.

It comes as the Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group forecast the Government's target to reduce rates of maternal smoking to six per cent by 2022 will only be met in 2032.

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Professor Linda Bauld, co-chair of the Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group, said helping more mothers-to-be quit smoking spares dozens of families from losing their baby to stillbirth or miscarriage, as well as easing pressure on vital NHS services.

Dr Clea Harmer, co-chair of the group and chief executive of the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity, said: "We are deeply concerned that the government has missed their target of six per cent or fewer pregnant women smoking by 2022 and isn’t on track to achieve it until the 2030s."

"The measures announced in April are an important step in the right direction, but they follow years of inaction and delay from successive governments."

She said the government urgently needs to publish a comprehensive strategy to tackle smoking among mums-to-be and added it should include a levy on tobacco companies.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it is committed to reducing smoking rates, particularly among pregnant women, and the department has a new financial incentive scheme, in the form of vouchers, which will be offered to all pregnant women who smoke by the end of 2024.

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They said: "Women who receive incentives are more than twice as likely to quit as those who do not and schemes like this help women to engage with stop smoking support and remain smoke-free throughout their pregnancy."

They added a smoke-free treatment pathway will be introduced for pregnant women by March 2024, where women who smoke will be referred for specialist support.