Stoptober is here again, and it’s a great opportunity to save some extra money by stopping smoking during the month of October. As well as benefitting your pocket, everyone who stops smoking for 28 days is 5 time more likely to quit for good, which has huge benefits for your health and that of everyone around you.
This year the NHS in Humber and North Yorkshire launched ‘Swap and Stop’ to provide NHS stop smoking support to all patients, staff and visitors who attend hospitals in the area. Services have started in Hull Royal Infirmary, Castle Hill, Scunthorpe General and Grimsby Hospitals and are rolling out to Goole, York, Scarborough, Bridlington, Humber and Harrogate and District hospitals within the next six months.
Kaylee Hopwood, ‘Swap and Stop’ Tobacco Dependence Treatment Lead at North Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals said:
“I’m excited about how many of our patients, staff and visitors that our hospital stop smoking service will help. To support the best health for everyone who visits, all of our sites are entirely Smokefree, and this is a real opportunity for anyone who would like to give it a go to try and quit”
We know that this will be quite a change for some people, and we want to make sure that everyone finds a way to manage their nicotine use, that doesn’t involve smoking whilst on site. Ideally people will decide how to manage this before they arrive, but anyone who hasn’t planned will be supported to choose something on admission to keep cravings at bay. This means no-one has to worry about how they’ll cope without cigarettes whilst they are here.”
The range of options includes the usual nicotine replacement products such as patches or inhalators as well as the choice to use a vaping device.”
The new service and our Smokefree sites mean that patients and staff can focus on care and recovery, rather than working out how to get off the ward to smoke. Our commitment to a Smokefree NHS doesn’t stop there, as everyone who decides to continue their smokefree journey when they leave hospital will be supported every step of the way by the hospital team and the community stop smoking services, which are available to everyone throughout the Region.
Smoking still accounts for more years of life lost than any other changeable risk factor. Smokers see their GP over a third more often than non-smokers, and smoking is linked to nearly half a million hospital admissions each year.
The best way to stop smoking is help and medication and that is free for most people, whether in hospital or not. With these new NHS services and the knowledge that vaping is a really good way to stop smoking, there are now more ways than ever to make this Stoptober a great opportunity to stop. Join everyone else who is stopping this year by visiting the Stoptober site.
