More smokers kicking the habit. Allegedly.
Thursday, August 19, 2010 "NHS helps more smokers than ever before to kick the habit," screams the press release. "NHS Stop Smoking Services helped more smokers than ever before to quit during 2009/10, says a report out today from the NHS Information Centre.
"At the four-week follow-up stage, 373,954 people reported that they had successfully kicked the habit during the year – 49 per cent of the 757,537 people who used the services during the year. This was an 11 per cent increase on 2008/09 when 337,054 successfully quit and the highest number ever recorded in a year for the service."
The BBC has the story HERE. I am quoted at the end. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to say. Eventually, mindful of the cost to taxpayer, I said: "Total expenditure on NHS Stop Smoking Services during 2009/10 was more than £83 million, £10 million more than the previous year. People choose to smoke so I'm not sure that the taxpayer should pick up the bill when they choose to quit."
The line they didn't use was: "The most important factor by far when giving up smoking is willpower, and willpower costs nothing."
Reader Comments (6)
Dont forget the ( 4 weeks after check) note.
Wonder how many started again after their monthly check.
Who cares ,my local bus station is bristling with new teenage smokers and
my wifes group have all started again,its a lot easier to afford now that they dont
spend their money in pubs.
With the money I've saved from kicking the pubs into touch,I can visit Europe
a few times a year and buy really cheap baccy
ASH & Co
Cheers you've saved me a fortune
Nicholas O' Teene
Interesting, the smoking ban seems to be helping people to give up alcohol!
I would like to see how that figure would change if it were give up nicotine. It would make much more sense if they classified "given up smoking" as ceased all nicotine dependence. The figures would look awful, but it would be more accurate. Perhaps some one could get parliament to pass another law (remember its government, you have to phrase everything as "more control") making them quote figures this way.
'People reported'. Yeah, course they did! Wouldn't you?
God !! When will this propaganda crap all end. So much for Mickey & Mouse in charge.
From the BBC link
one in 20 hospital admissions for over-35s were linked to smoking.
So 19 out of 20 hospital admissions for over-35s were not linnked to smoking. How many were linked to exercise? Indeed what was the highest admission count linked to?
Listening to the TC groups you would have thought the figures were the other way around. Have they got there priorities right?
Since when did these quangos and indeed the NHS, in recent years, learn how to count?
I am sure they could make 1+1 equal any figure they chose, with very little imagination.
It has never ceased to amaze me how the figures from such quangos, etc, can still say how cases of smoking related illnesses are increasing when the number of people smoking has declined dramatically since it's heyday in the 1950 through to the 1970's. Simple logic says this just does not add up!
Such fixations on smokers and smoking are doing, in my opinion, untold damage to the population as the real reasons for any increases in cancer or other types of respiratory illnesses are not being looked into and researched.
It is just typical of bullying morons such as ASH, CRUK, BHF to find a gravy train and then put everything into that and ignore any other factors, to the overall detrement of society as a whole.
We must keep fighting, although I fear that such morons as mentioned above are now so entrenched it will be nigh on impossible to get rid of them. After all, if government AND the general public can be so easily taken in and hoodwinked, what chance is there of getting them to see their gullibility, never mind admit to it?