Kick the habit

Today’s Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services: England, April 2012 – March 2013(2) report by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) shows nearly 724,200 quit dates were set with NHS Stop Smoking Services in 2012-13, an eleven per cent fall on the previous year (816,400).

The report also shows a seven per cent fall in the number of people that successfully quit from 401,0005 in 2011-12 to 373,900 in 2012-13.

Despite the number of setters and quitters falling, the overall success rate of those trying to quit with the NHS has increased from 49 per cent in 2011-12 to 52 per cent in 2012-13. The number of setters and quitters is still three times as high as in 2002-03 (234,900 setters and 124,100 quitters) when the overall success rate was 53 per cent.

Key findings in today’s annual NHS Stop Smoking Services report show that in 2012-13:

More women than men set a quit date (376,400 women compared with 347,800 men) although the success rate of giving up smoking altogether was slightly higher in men (53 per cent) than in women (50 per cent).