National figures show less people trying to give up
North smokers buck trend as more quit habit
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More Highland smokers are trying to kick the habit with the help of the health service – bucking the national trend, it emerged yesterday.
Figures released the day before the second anniversary of the ban on smoking in public places showed that smokers made 41,424 attempts to give up during 2007, down 11% on the previous year.
Across Scotland, an estimated 3.9% of smokers tried to give up at some point during 2007 with the help of an NHS stop smoking service, down from 4.4% in 2006.
In the Highlands, 1,785 people used the health service’s smoking cessation services last year – three times more than a year earlier.
But that represents a smaller proportion of smokers attempting to quit compared with the national average.
NHS Highland’s director of public health, Eric Baijal, said: “Giving up smoking is the single most important thing most people can do to improve their health and even with this increase too many are continuing to smoke.
“Our figures don’t include people who are trying to give up on their own but people are four times more likely to succeed if they get nicotine replacement therapy and the help of an adviser than if they rely on willpower alone, so we would like them to come forward”
In Highland, 743 people who used the smoking cessation service said they quit within a month of starting to receive support in 2007, compared with 173 in 2006.
Nationally, 37% of smokers who tried to give up were not smoking after a month and 19% were still successful after three months.
NHS Shetland had one of the highest success rates, with 48% still off cigarettes after one month and 31% successful after three months.
Public Health Minister Shona Robison urged all smokers to find out what help was available to assist them giving up their habit.
The Scottish Government recently committed an additional £33million of funding over the next three years for smoking cessation services.
Ms Robison said a five-year action plan for tackling smoking would be published later this year.
