Wirral Primary Care Trust’s Stop Smoking Service is gearing up for one of its busiest periods of the year – as thousands of smokers prepare to stub out for good.
According to a study by leading tobacco control expert Professor Robert West more than 172,000 smokers in the North West – including nearly 9,000 Wirral smokers - may try to quit smoking this New Year.
The message to smokers who genuinely want to stop is that they are up to four times more likely to quit successfully if they have NHS support.
Said Helen Young from Wirral’s Stop Smoking Service: “Seventy percent of smokers actually want to stop smoking but prefer to have a trusted source to advise them on how to go about it. We offer free, confidential stop smoking sessions to the public. Smokers can contact the team on 630 8383 to find out how we can help them to stop and to book an appointment.�
Appointments are available at:
• Eastham Clinic (Wednesdays pm)
• Manor Health Centre, Liscard (Wednesdays am)
• Walk-in Centre, Victoria Central Hospital (Thursday evenings)
• Health and Wellbeing Centre, 30 Argyle Street, Birkenhead (Mon -Thurs, day and
evening)
• St. James Centre, Birkenhead (Mondays am)
For any of the above please pre-book on 630 8383 or contact your local GP/practice nurse or local pharmacy.
Smokers can also:
• Call the national helpline 0800 917 6699
• Text Support to 63818
• Visit www.nhs.uk/gosmokefree
• Obtain the free ‘Get Support’ DVD online or by calling the helpline
Professor West’s ‘smoking toolkit’ study, which has monitored smoking cessation trends since October 2006, identified January as the most popular month for quitting, when around one in eight smokers tried to kick the habit in 2007.
On Boxing Day, the NHS launched ‘Getting Off Cigarettes’ a national stop smoking campaign launched aimed at persuading the country’s millions of smokers that quitting can be successful.
The ‘Getting Off Cigarettes’ adverts, which will run for three months, feature a cityscape dotted with giant cigarettes to bring to life the challenge of quitting smoking and remind smokers that many others are going through similar experiences. Different rescue operations arrive on the scene to help smokers to ‘get off’ the cigarettes, illustrating the range of free stop smoking support provided by the NHS.
Said Professor West: “Research has consistently confirmed that seven out of ten smokers want to quit but the Smoking Toolkit Study aimed to find out how often they actually try to quit, what they use to help them and how often they succeed. We have found that almost half of all smokers actually try to at least once over the course of the year and one in eight try to quit in January. But I was particularly interested to find that, contrary to popular scepticism of New Year’s Resolutions, smokers who quit in January also tended to be more successful at staying off cigarettes.�
Wirral employers wishing to use the workplace Stop Smoking service – which is free to access - should call 630 8383.
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit