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North East leads smoking quit rate

The North East is the UK’s leading region for helping people to quit smoking, new figures reveal. 1145 per 100,000 of the population aged 16 and higher reported giving up smoking with the NHS from April 2005 to March 2006, the annual report on the performance of NHS Stop Smoking Services in England shows. The North West region came second with a rate of 987 per 100,000 while London was bringing up the rear with a rate of just 612, making it the poorest performing region in the UK. Notable in the North East were the results recorded for Hartlepool and Easington Primary Care Trusts who achieved a quit rate of 1,865 and 1,808 respectively, well above the national average of 818. Peter Price, Director of Public Health and Wellbeing for Hartlepool Primary Care Trust, said: “Our success rate shows the success of our innovative, community based one-stop-shop where smokers can go along and get the type of support they need, including substitute therapies, rather than have to go to their doctor.“This is the sixth year running that the North East’s Stop Smoking Services has topped the UK regions. Ailsa Rutter, Director for the Fresh Campaign for a Smoke Free North East, said: “The outstanding achievements of the region’s NHS Stop Smoking Services are something we should be extremely proud of. “The focus will now be on helping the region’s many smokers adjust to the forthcoming smoking legislation and the region’s services are expecting an increase in quitters as more businesses become smoke-free environments.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .