We encourage smokers to QUIT or SWITCH on No Smoking Day 2024

This year marks the 40th anniversary of No Smoking Day. Today, Wednesday 13th March 2024, the country unites to offer encouragement and support to everyone currently on a journey to becoming smokefree and those thinking about taking their first steps on this journey.

Those of us who have seen and helped people undertake this journey know how rewarding it can be when they succeed and what a difference being smokefree makes to them.

Quitting smoking is the best thing you can do for your health. It’s never too late to quit smoking. When you stop smoking, there are almost immediate improvements to your health. 

Quitting also benefits your pocket too, on average smokers spend £38.59 a week on tobacco. That means smokers could have around £2,000 more to spend a year by quitting.

“We know most smokers want to quit and that they can achieve this by getting the support they need and by keeping on going. The new local community Smokefree Sheffield Service is there to meet their individual needs and is helping thousands of people quit smoking. A 73% increase in referrals to them so far this year is impressive. We know that people can quit, no matter how many times it takes to try. It’s the never giving up that’s important to achieve your goal.” – Greg Fell, Sheffield’s Director of Public Health

Smoking has a huge impact on an individual’s health – up to two in three smokers will die as a result of long-term smoking. Smoking is still the single largest preventable cause of death in England – estimated to account for 64,000 deaths annually. Almost every minute of every day someone is admitted to hospital with a smoking-related disease. In 2022-23, there were an estimated 408,700 hospital admissions in England due to smoking.

Greg Fell, Sheffield’s Director of Public Health, added: “Research shows that most people who smoke, start smoking in adolescence and 83% of smokers start before the age of 20. This is why the Government’s new proposed legislation to raise the smoking age by one year each year until it applies to the whole population is so important in achieving a Smokefree Generation. It’s the journey to fewer people becoming addicted to smoking in the first place and is the only way to make smoking a thing of the past.”

Smoking rates have reduced considerably since the first year of No Smoking Day 40 years ago and this year’s No Smoking Day campaign encourages smokers to quit or switch and try once more. 

In Sheffield, we have seen many smokers achieve success, with over 20,000 smokers quitting since 2017; the proportion of the city’s adult population that smoked 7 years ago was 17.6%, but by 2022, this proportion had dropped to 12%.

“It’s much easier to stop smoking when you get the right support and there are lots of options to choose from in Sheffield, we have a fantastic award-winning service which offers, online, telephone, text and face-to-face support in community settings local to you. Getting expert advice from the Smokefree Sheffield Services means you’re three times as likely to quit for good” – Cllr Angela Argenzio

The Smokefree Sheffield Service now provides a greater variety of methods to help smokers on their quit journey and find an approach that works for them. As well as providing free nicotine replacement therapy, Smokefree Sheffield offers free vapes for 12 weeks to adults who want to quit smoking or switch to vaping. And for those who aren’t ready to quit, they can access 6 weeks of support to cut down before setting a quit date. The service also helps smokers to manage stress while quitting. 

Nicotine vapes are one of the most effective stop smoking aids. Almost two-thirds of people who use a vape along with support from their local service successfully quit smoking.

Advice and support on quitting, switching, and cutting down to quit can be found on the Smokefree Sheffield website: www.smokefreesheffield.org

For more information, contact Sophie Squire on 0114 221 0378 or email [email protected].