The North East has had a record year for quitting smoking through NHS stop smoking services – helped by the financial pressures on smokers. HELEN RAE reports
A RECORD number of people in the North East have quit smoking in the last year using NHS stop smoking services, new figures have revealed.
Statistics released by The NHS Information Centre yesterday showed that 26,038 people quit smoking successfully with the region’s six NHS stop smoking services from April 2010 to March 2011 – 553 more than in the previous year and an increase of 2.2%.
In the last year the North East NHS has spent £4,379,000, which equates to £168 per quitter, on tackling the issue. But there is still a long way to go, despite the region’s stop smoking services recording 58,660 quit attempts in the last year – up 4.3% on 2009/2010.
But despite significant health warnings, pregnant women in the region are still lighting up, with 38% of those who set a “quit date” failing to kick the habit.
People under the age of 18 are also the least likely age group to stop smoking in the region as only 20% quit – the lowest percentage in the country for this age group – compared to 54% over the age of 60.
People are counted as successful quitters if they are still not smoking four weeks after their quit date.
Last night, health experts in the North East said smoking was still the region’s biggest killer as there are 282.5 deaths per 100,000 for those aged 35 and over due to smoking-related illnesses and the North East continues to have the worst death rates in the country.
Ailsa Rutter, director of regional anti-smoking body Fresh, said: “Stopping smoking is probably the biggest step anyone can take to improve their short and long-term health prospects.
“We are thrilled so many people managed to stop smoking in the North East last year. The Stop Smoking Services in the North East make a huge difference for people. Those who use the services on offer are four times more likely to succeed in giving up than if they try to go it alone.
“But we cannot become complacent as there is still a lot of work to be done in the region to tackle the issue. The North East still has a real legacy of what high smoking rates has done to the community.
“Over the last six years there has been a success in the reduction of smoking rates through the NHS stop smoking services.
“But one in every two smoker dies prematurely and we must not let up in our efforts to tackle our biggest killer. We still have a long way to go to making smoking history for the North East.”
Latest figures show that the highest prevalence of smoking among women in the country is in the North East, with 23% of females lighting up compared to 20% of men. The North East NHS stop smoking services achieved the highest number of quitters per population size of any strategic health authority, achieving 1,225 quitters per 100,000 people compared to 911 quitters nationally.
