The NHS is spending more money helping people stop smoking – but fewer are quitting, say official figures.

The cost per quitter was £219 in 2008/09 compared with £173 in 2007/08 and £160 in 2006/07.

The proportion of people successfully quitting last year went down four per cent. But spending went up 21 per cent last year to £74m – not including the cost of nicotine replacement therapy.

Latest figures show that – four weeks on – 337,054 people successfully quit last year, a drop of four per cent on the 350,800 in the previous year.

The figures also found less than half of pregnant women using NHS stop smoking services manage to quit smoking.

Of the 18,928 pregnant women who set a quit date, 8,641 successfully quit (46 per cent), says the NHS Information Centre.

This was a 12 per cent fall on the 9,817 successful quitters among pregnant women setting a quit date in 2007/08.

A total of 671,259 people set a quit date through the service in 2008/09, a 1 per cent fall on the 680,289 in 2007/08.

The smoking ban in public places came into force in England on July 1, 2007.

The NHS Information Centre’s chief executive, Tim Straughan, said: ‘The report shows that fewer people successfully quit last year compared to 2007/08.

‘However, 2007/08 saw the introduction of the ban on smoking in public places which would be expected to affect the number of quitters in that year.

source: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk

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