NHS beats stop smoking target (From Swindon Advertiser)

NHS beats stop smoking target

11:10am Monday 24th August 2009 in Search

SMOKING kills 270 people in Swindon each year, according to the NHS.

New figures show 64 Swindon people under the age of 75 die of lung cancer as a result of smoking every year.

However, Swindon Primary Care Trust has broken its target for people quitting cigarettes for the sixth year in a row.

Statistics released by the NHS Information Centre on Thursday showed 1,223 smokers in the town successfully kicked the habit after setting dates to quit.

A further 910 Swindon residents failed to quit by their self-imposed deadlines, leaving the town’s cessation services with a 57 per cent success rate.

The PCT’s target was 1,184 quitters for 2008/09.

Jennifer Kenyon, tobacco control manager for NHS Swindon, said: “This is excellent news for Swindon PCT and its residents.

“Overall smoking figures are reducing and that’s fantastic, but there are still some parts of Swindon where the number of people smoking is nearly double that of other areas.

“We want to continue to make sure that the NHS Stop Smoking Services are easily accessible to anyone who wants to stop smoking.”

In the Wiltshire Council area, 55 per cent of the 4,666 people who set a date to quit managed to do so.

In total, 3,800 people in the county successfully quit in 2008/9 with the help of NHS Stop Smoking Services.

Swindon PCT, which provides one-to-one, couple or group sessions and can prescribe stop smoking products, such as nicotine gum and patches on prescription, said people were four times more likely to give up using the NHS Stop Smoking Services than going it alone.

A spokesman said: “We can be found in more than 50 locations in Swindon, including most GP surgeries, in many pharmacies and some children’s centres.

“We run our own clinics and appointments are available in the daytime, evening and at weekends."

l For free information and advice or help to stop smoking, call Swindon NHS Stop Smoking Service on freephone 0800 389 2229 or email besmokefree@swindon-pct.nhs.uk. You can also visit smokefreeswindon.org.uk.

Grandfather inspired to quit
A GRANDFATHER who used the NHS to help him quit smoking after 40 years said he would recommend others to do the same.

Des Rideout, 59, of Kerrs Way, Wroughton, decided to stop his 10-a-day habit when his four-year-old granddaughter told him he smelled when he picked her up after he’d smoked a cigarette.

He said: “I felt awful.As a smoker, you feel like you’re an outcast anyway and I wanted to give up but she was the one that caused me to say ‘that’s it’.”

Des sought one-to-one advice through the NHS Stop Smoking Service and last had a cigarette in April.

He said: “It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I used to get a tight chest every now and again and short of breath. Now I feel a lot better.”