Smokers urged to kick their habit on No Smoking Day (From Watford Observer)
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Smokers urged to kick their habit on No Smoking Day
4:43pm Wednesday 10th March 2010 in
Smokers are being encouraged to kick their habit today.
On national No Smoking Day, advisors from the Hertfordshire Stop Smoking Service set up a stall at Watford General Hospital, in Vicarage Road, to hand out information and advice about how to quit.
Smoking increases the risks of cadiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, cancer of the head, neck, lung and bladder, and breathing problems.
But Maria Jones, a stop smoking specialist, said smokers were four times more likely to stub out their habit, and reduce their chances of contracting these illnesses, with help from the NHS.
She said: “A lot of people want to stop and evidence says they're more likely to stop with support, rather than on their own.
“If someone wants to stop smoking on their own, they may experience withdrawal symptoms for four weeks afterwards.”
Smokers who want to quit can find help with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) using nicotine patches or gum, or they can take tablets called champix, which block nicotine from reaching the brain to stop people enjoying smoking.
In future, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, in partnership with West Hertfordshire PCT, hopes that smokers admitted to Watford General will be placed on an NRT programme and then when they are discharged, their GPs would provide continued support to help them quit.
For more information about how to quit smoking, visit www.smokefreehertfordshire.nhs.uk or telephone 0800 3893998.
Comments(3)
phaaktier
says...
5:19pm Thu 11 Mar 10
The solution is easy.
Ban smoking ALL TOGETHER, or shut up about it.
Rob Ridley
says...
5:58pm Sat 13 Mar 10
I'm a non smoker. The next topic on the agenda is alcohol.
Get me a cigar someone!
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Reshma Upadhyay from Riverside Pharmacy, Rickmansworth and Maria Jones from the Hertfordshire Stop Smoking Service encouraging local smokers to break free as part of National No Smoking Day on Wednesday
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watfordjc says...
10:30pm Wed 10 Mar 10
I am concerned that smokers requiring hospital treatment would be forced onto NRT products when it is a known fact that such products are more than 95% unsuccessful and they may even be forced onto champix without undergoing adequate psychological assessments first (suicide is a known side-effect of champix).
I would like to know if Miss Jones has accepted the findings of "Chapman S, MacKenzie R (2010) The Global Research Neglect of Unassisted Smoking Cessation: Causes and Consequences. PLoS Med 7(2): e1000216. doi:10.1371/journal.
pmed.1000216"(http:/
/www.plosmedicine.or
g/article/info:doi/1
0.1371/journal.pmed.
1000216) which proves that smoking cessation is most successful unassisted, or if she ignores the findings because they go against tobacco and pharmaceutical funded organisations? Does smokefreehertfordshi
re and the organisation Miss Jones works for receive any direct/indirect funding from the pharmaceutical and tobacco industries?
Also, does Miss Jones and other smoking specialists and organisations accept the findings from the recent study that suggests nicotine is absorbed slowly and smoking doesn't cause "nicotine spikes" in the blood and brain, or do they still believe the reason nicotine smoking is addictive is because it causes such spikes?
John Cook