A new team will be positioned outside the entrance of Hull Royal Infirmary from November 21, 2023, offering staff and visitors who smoke and are over the age of 18 the opportunity to swap their cigarettes for a recyclable vape.

Hull University Teaching Hospital sites are smokefree, and all patients admitted to the hospital are offered support and medication to help them manage cravings for cigarettes whilst here from the ‘Swap and Stop’ tobacco dependency treatment team. The team have had amazing success rates since they started helping people in August 2022, with over a third of patients still being completely smokefree a month after leaving hospital, improving their recovery times and reducing their chances of coming back!

In a new initiative to support everyone who visits or works at the hospital also to stay smokefree, the Swap and Stop Tobacco Dependency Treatment Team has branched out and will be positioned at the entrance to the hospital, offering visitors and staff who smoke the opportunity to swap a cigarette for a recyclable vape. Vapes are significantly less harmful than tobacco and very effective in stopping people experiencing uncomfortable withdrawal from nicotine.

Wendy Krstenic, Nurse Director at Hull University Teaching Hospitals, said, “Even though our site has been smokefree since the smoking ban in 2006, it’s something that we still struggle with.

“This new supportive approach gives people the opportunity to try a less harmful alternative to tobacco, rather than just telling them not to smoke, which we know doesn’t work. You never know, it may inspire that person to try swapping cigarettes for a vape completely, which will significantly improve their health”.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) recently reported that nearly three in 10 (27 per cent) smokers have never tried vaping even though it’s a very effective quitting aid.

Stuart Griffiths, director of research at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said, “Up to two in three long-term smokers will die from smoking if they don’t quit[i], but it’s never too late to stop smoking.

“Stopping at any age can lengthen and improve quality of life, even for those with a smoking-related illness. We urge people to seek support to quit smoking and consider using vaping to help them stop.”

Dave Jones, Swap and Stop tobacco programme manager for Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, said, “There is a lot of confusion about vaping, but when it is used as a tool to stop smoking tobacco, it is highly effective and has great success rates. The NHS fully supports people who choose to use them.

“We would urge anyone who smokes and is finding it difficult to stop to swap to a vape, as the harm to health is reduced immediately.”

Evidence shows, and experts agree, that vapes are the most effective stop smoking aid for those heavily addicted smokers. Recent research from Brunel University also estimated that if smokers swapped to vapes, it could save the NHS up to 500m per year in treating smoking related illness. It goes without saying that vaping isn’t recommended for anyone who doesn’t smoke and should only be used as a tool to quit.


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