Ailsa Rutter OBE originally trained as a nurse and has worked in public health in Australia and the UK since 1998. She has specialist expertise in tobacco control and, working with others, launched Fresh (the UK’s first regional tobacco control programme) in 2005. She has been the Director of the multi award-winning programme ever since. She has also been closely involved in the running of Balance, the regional alcohol harms programme in the North East, since it launched in 2009, becoming Director in 2021.

Abstract

Maximising the smokefree generation policy rationale to build a mass quitting opportunity: Effective system working with the person who smokes at the heart

Ailsa will draw on two decades of experience from the North East of England to discuss how the policy moment can be used to stimulate large-scale quitting. The presentation will highlight lessons on effective communications, whole-system approaches to cessation, and regional strategies aimed at achieving a completely smokefree future.