NEARLY a fifth of pregnant women in some parts of the Bradford district are still smoking around the time of their baby's delivery, new figures have revealed.

A report on smoking in pregnancy, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre yesterday, showed that 217 mothers in the Bradford Districts Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area – which covers Bingley, Shipley, Saltaire, Heaton, and Tong – still classed themselves as smokers when giving birth between July and September this year, a rate of 17.6 per cent.

Although the figure is down by an average of 1.8 per cent, from the previous year, it is still higher than the regional average for West Yorkshire –14.1 per cent – and the average national rate, 11.5 per cent.

In the Bradford City CCG area, which covers the city centre, the rate was just 8.2 per cent, down from 10 per cent the previous year, while the figure for the Airedale, Wharfedale, and Craven CCG was 14.9 per cent.