Skip to main content
Publication, Part of

Statistics on Stop Smoking Services - England, April 2008 to June 2008, Q1, Quarterly report

Official statistics
Publication Date:
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Regions, Local Authorities
Date Range:
01 Apr 2008 to 30 Jun 2008

Summary

This quarterly report presents provisional results from the monitoring of the NHS Stop Smoking Services in England during the period April to June 2008. This report includes information on the number of people setting a quit date and the number who successfully quit at the four week follow-up. It also presents a more in depth analyses of the key measures of the service, presenting results by a variety of demographic and service delivery breakdowns. Regional analyses at Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and Primary Care Trust (PCT) geographies are also presented.

This is the first quarterly report on NHS Stop Smoking Services data using aggregated PCT level returns on NHS Stop Smoking Services activity records. This allows more in-depth analysis of the data enabling more detailed patterns of service use and delivery to be identified than have previously been available from SHA aggregate returns. Much of the information, previously only available at a national level, is now available for each SHA.

In 2008/09 there have been new data items added to the collection. This includes data for the number of people setting a quit date and the number who successfully quit at the four week follow-up by socio economic classification, eligibility to receive free prescriptions, intervention setting and intervention type. This bulletin reports on these newly collected data items. However we recognise that there are known weaknesses with some of this newly collected data, but rather than withhold this already useful dataset we are releasing it labelled as 'experimental statistics' where appropriate and are seeking input from users to help us bring about rapid improvements and developments needed to support key NHS business and policy areas.

Highlights

The results show that in England during the period April to June 2008:

  • 134,149 people set a quit date through NHS Stop Smoking Services, a decrease of 22 per cent over the same period in 2007/08 and 3 per cent over the same period in 2006/07

  • at the four week follow-up 65,334 people had successfully quit (based on self-report), 49 per cent of those setting a quit date. This compares with 86,781 successful quitters in the same period in 2007/08 (a decrease of 25 per cent), and 68,901 successful quitters in 2006/07 (5 per cent decrease)

  • of those setting a quit date, success at the four week follow-up increased with age, from 33 per cent of those aged under 18, to 57 per cent of those aged 60 and over

  • of the 3,907 pregnant women who set a quit date, 1,685 successfully quit at the four week follow-up (43 per cent)

  • the majority of those setting a quit date received Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) only (66 per cent). A further 20 per cent received varenicline (Champix) only, 2 per cent received bupropion (Zyban) only, 1 per cent received both NRT and varenicline and less than 1 per cent received both NRT and bupropion. 5 per cent of people setting a quit date did not receive any pharmacotherapy and the type of treatment was unknown for a further 5 per cent

  • Varenicline was the most successful pharmacotherapy in helping people quit, with 61 per cent successfully quitting at the four week follow-up, compared with 49 per cent who received bupropion only, 46 per cent who received NRT, and 47 per cent who did not receive any pharmacotherapy

  • total expenditure on NHS Stop Smoking Services was £16 million, an increase from £13 million in the same period in 2007/08. The cost per quitter is £247, compared with £152 in the same period in 2007/08. These figures do not include expenditure on pharmacotherapies

  • among Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs), the East Midlands SHA reported the highest proportion of successful quitters (55 per cent), while the North East and West Midlands SHA reported the lowest success rate (45 per cent)

  • among Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), Blackburn and Darwen PCT reported the highest proportion of successful quitters (78 per cent), while Aston, Leigh and Wigan PCT reported the lowest success rate (21 per cent)

Resources

Last edited: 30 March 2022 7:43 am