Ellie’s blog: Help is at hand across county if you want to quit smoking

By Derbyshire County Council’s Director of Public Health Ellie Houlston

In Derbyshire 14% of people smoke – that is higher than the national England average.

Smoking is still one of the biggest causes of avoidable death and ill health in our county and we’re working hard to help people quit for good.

Smoking rates tend to be higher among people who live in social housing and people who work in routine and manual jobs.

This means that the burden and the impact of smoking are concentrated among some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in our communities.

Whether you have tried to stop in the past or want to make that first step to becoming smoke free, there are free, local services here to help.

One of the ways smokers can stop smoking is by swapping to vapes – also known as e-cigarettes.

Evidence suggests that if you already smoke, vaping is far less harmful, and swapping to vapes is a good way to help you stop altogether.

However, a key message that we are keen to reinforce is that vapes are not harm free.

So if you don’t smoke then please don’t start vaping as the potential long term health impacts are not yet known.

I share the concerns people have around the marketing of disposable vapes to children and young people.

The sale of vapes to under 18s is illegal and yet coloured and flavoured vapes are clearly targeted towards younger age groups and this is totally unacceptable.

Vape products should never be targeted at children, and we need to reduce the number of young people trying vapes by continuing to support tighter e-cigarette regulations where necessary.

Evidence shows that you are three times more likely to quit smoking with the help of a local stop smoking service.

Any Derbyshire residents who want to stop smoking can get free support, including vapes to help them quit, from the county council’s Live Life Better Derbyshire service.

Live Life Better Derbyshire offers 12 weeks of free stop smoking support with face to face and telephone support, supportive Facebook groups as well as access to stop smoking medications and nicotine replacement therapy products such as patches and gum.

Find out more by calling 0800 085 2299 or visit www.livelifebetterderbyshire.org.uk

You can read more blogs from key voices across our system, on our website.