NHS Quitting services a 'Jewel in the Crown'

[Mark]

...my ARSE.

I read these two articles this morning (with a mug of tea and a vape of course) and find it staggering for the writers to suggest that helping nearly 146,000 to quit (I presume their figures are based on long term quitters) over TEN YEARS is a great success using counselling and NRT.

Bear in mind 800,000 people are now using this service annually

1.3 million UK Vapers no longer (or largely no longer) smoking after less than half that period and growing exponentially year on year completely ignored. But then we haven't really 'quit' have we cos we use that nasty nicotine and we blow 'smoke' like the lepers they continue to wish us to be.

In the Glass Half Full article I found this quote of interest and sums it up for me

"The unofficial target for the service is to get half of the people who turn to it for help to quit in the short-term - that is to say to give up for at least four weeks.

Over all the NHS failed to achieve this in any of the years from 2001 to 2011"



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23766070

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23766071

 

[anthonyb]

""In recent years the numbers have come down by less than 1% a year.
Some of that is down to smokers dying and the success of health campaigns in discouraging a new generation of smokers from taking up the habit." This quote from Nick Triggle about sums that up. And most of the rest of the 146,000 because they nearly at that point as well. As we all know "once a smoker, probably always a smoker).

 

[Mark]

Also - 200000 new smokers each year and 100000 die from smoke related diseases annually ...

 

[VaperCaper]

My question would be what are these researchers smoking?

Lets play crunch with some numbers shall we? Using the figures quoted in the article. 146000 people quit via the service in 2001 to 2011 a period of 10 years. Quit has been defined as 'abstaining from smoking for a period of 1 year' (which is a very lax definition of quit, but I digress)

So 14600 a year quit because of this service.

the number of people using the service is 800000 (yes almost 1million) PER YEAR

That is a success rate of 1.8% - less than 2 percent.

During the same time period 100000 per year died from smoking related disease (1million in total)

This NHS service costs the NHS £84m a year. Which works out that on average it costs £5753 per person to quit smoking for a year.

Maybe it's just me but these figures don't have me thinking about crown jewels myself.

Edit: to fix early morning maths - and to add this link which has done a much better job than I could of demolishing this article.

 

[Mark]

My question would be what are these researchers smoking?

Lets play crunch with some numbers shall we? Using the figures quoted in the article. 146000 people quit via the service in 2001 to 2011 a period of 10 years. Quit has been defined as 'abstaining from smoking for a period of 1 year' (which is a very lax definition of quit, but I digress)

So 14600 a year quit because of this service.

the number of people using the service is 800000 (yes almost 1million) PER YEAR

That is a success rate of 1.8% - less than 2 percent.

During the same time period 100000 per year died from smoking related disease (1million in total)

This NHS service costs the NHS £84m a year. Which works out that on average it costs £5753 per person to quit smoking for a year.

Maybe it's just me but these figures don't have me thinking about crown jewels myself.

Edit: to fix early morning maths - and to add this link which has done a much better job than I could of demolishing this article.

In fairness it would be 14,600 quitting per annum and the 800,000 is the current figure of people using it so may have been more or less in previous years but still...damn right. Hardly a huge success.

Edit: didn't see your edit

 

[Mark]

And thanks for the link

 

[steffijade]

The BBC seem to be steering away from discussion of vaping and sticking to the bog standard quit or die mantra.

I wonder why?

 

[Mark]

Dick Puddlecote exposes the conflict of interests



http://dickpuddlecote.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/nhs-pharma-based-service-is-brilliant.html?spref=tw