MORE than 600 pregnant smokers were still smoking when they gave birth at Barnsley Hospital.
The shocking figure for 2013-14 was revealed at the hospital's annual meeting last Thursday.
It equates to 23 per cent of women smoking at the time of delivery - the national average being 14 per cent.
Of the 2,747 deliveries between April 2013 and March 2014, 632 were smokers.
The hospital's midwife-led Stop Smoking service is provided by midwife Beccy Barker and health care assistant Lynn Clay.
Beccy said: "Every pregnant women is offered a carbon monoxide test and if she smokes she is referred to the stop smoking service where she is offered support and nicotine replacement therapy.
"We discuss the benefits of quitting and the risks of smoking during pregnancy."
** The full story appears in the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper, dated September 19. **
