Building a smokefree generation in York

The City of York Council is helping to create a smoke-free generation in York.

The council has been allocated £195,000 in government funding to help expand its existing offer to residents and provide even more support to help people quit for good over the next five years.

Figures from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) show that smoking is costing York £109m a year. Most of this cost is the impact on local productivity, £66.1m, as smoking undermines the health of people during working age, with some dying before they reach retirement.

The service is being delivered by the Health Trainer team, which has a fantastic track record of helping people stop smoking, with a 74 per cent success rate of people not smoking four weeks after their ‘quit date’, which is the fourth highest in the country according to recent figures.

The health trainers help residents by providing free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or e-cigarettes. The additional funding means the service can expand this offer from four weeks to 10 weeks.

The team will also be helping areas where smoking rates remain consistently higher than others in York.

Jo Coles, executive member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care, said, “Our health trainers already do an amazing job to support people across York to make positive changes such as stopping smoking. It’s really welcome news that this additional funding will enable them to help more residents and for longer.

“The city’s free health trainer service provides support face to face and with the cost of nicotine replacement, and anyone who wants to quit smoking or help with other issues such as weight loss or increasing their levels of physical activity should contact them.”

Peter Roderick, director of public health at City of York Council, said, “Smoking is one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK. Every year, around 78,000 people in the UK die from smoking, with many more living with debilitating smoking-related illnesses. As consumer products, cigarettes kill one in every two users.

“As soon as 48 hours after quitting smoking, your sense of taste and smell is already improving. Within two weeks, blood pumps better through your heart. After three months, coughing, wheezing, or breathing problems will improve as your lung function increases by up to 10 per cent.

“Cigarette use in young people causes shortness of breath and reduced physical stamina in the short term, and in the long term reduces lung growth and leads to early cardiovascular damage.”

This all comes as the ‘Tobacco and Vapes Bill’ was recently introduced, where children turning 15 this year or younger will never legally be able to be sold tobacco. This will ensure that future generations are protected from the harmful impacts of smoking and save thousands of lives as well as billions of pounds for the NHS.

Other costs include: