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Campaign launched to help smokers quit this New Year

As millions of New Year’s resolutions are made, new NHS Smokefree research reveals that many smokers in Trafford are largely underestimating how damaging smoking is to their personal health and finances.  

Research in the North West shows:

• 84% of smokers in the region underestimate the number of people who die annually from smoking related disease by at least 70,000 (the actual figure is over 80,000 deaths a year as a result of smoking). 
• Almost two thirds (65%) of smokers in the region underestimate how many long term smokers die early from smoking related disease (the actual figure is that 1 in 2 of all long term smokers will die early from smoking related disease). 
• 31% of smokers in the region underestimate the number of cancer deaths caused by smoking (the actual figure is that smoking is estimated to be responsible for over a quarter of cancer deaths in the UK). 
• And amazingly, 9% of smokers in the region still do not believe that smoking can seriously damage their health and lead to premature death.

Smokers in the North West region also underestimate the financial costs of smoking - on average, smokers estimate that smoking 20-a-day is costing them £1745 per year. With a packet of 20 cigarettes now costing on average £6.59 smokers are underestimating this by over £650. In reality, a 20-a-day smoker could save £2,405 a year if they quit.

Although many smokers plan to quit in 2012, the research found that various myths around stopping smoking are preventing people making quits:

• Over a third (35%) are not quitting because they feel that they are too stressed to try and quit
• 35% are not quitting because they tried before and failed 
• 43% also feel they don’t have the willpower required

In reality, research shows that smoking causes more stress and anxiety than not smoking and that quitting can help to reduce stress. Evidence also shows that you can increase your chances of quitting successfully by using NHS support and that your willpower can be boosted with simple exercises available in the new and improved Quit Kit.

343 people in Trafford died from smoking related illnesses in 2009. Research has shown that smokers who quit with NHS support are up to four times more likely to succeed.

Help is at hand for the thousands of smokers who want to quit in the New Year. The Department of Health is launching an advertising campaign aimed at giving people the right tools to quit smoking by encouraging them to get a new and improved NHS Quit Kit from a participating pharmacy in England from 1 January. To find your nearest stockist text SEARCH and your postcode to 88088 or search online at www.nhs.uk/smokefree.

The NHS Quit Kit has been developed by experts together with smokers and ex-smokers and contains practical tools and advice to help smokers quit smoking for good. Items include a health/wealth wheel which helps quitters calculate how much they are saving and the improvements they’ll see to their health; MP3 downloads which are scientifically proven to reduce cravings and a ‘tangle’ toy to help keep hands busy. The Quit Kit also contains information on other free quitting help such as local Stop Smoking Services, plus smokers can sign up to get new motivational text messages straight to their mobile phone.

Kerry Briggs, NHS Trafford’s stop smoking service lead said: “Quitting is not easy, but it can be made less difficult with the right support and tools.  We want to help as many people as possible break the cycle of addiction and quit for good.  If you are thinking about stopping smoking in 2012 and would like to talk to someone please contact us on 0300 456 2400.”