New survey should give more stop smoking centres confidence to integrate vaping into their service offerings
The UKVIA has welcomed news that there has been a rise in the number of local authorities that offer dedicated services to help smokers quit – but warned that more must now include vaping as part of those offerings.
A national survey of local governments’ stop smoking support showed improvements compared to before the pandemic. In 2021, 76% of local authorities provided some form of dedicated specialist service for smokers — compared to 69% in 2019.
John Dunne, Director General of the UKVIA, said: “This hugely welcome and encouraging report comes off the back of the Government’s continued science-led and publicly stated commitment to the use of vaping to help people quit smoking.
“However, it must be underlined that currently only around a third of UK Stop Smoking Centres offer vaping as an option – that is a situation that must change.
“Our hope is that now, following this research, even more centres will have the confidence to follow suit and finally adopt vaping as an alternative to other Nicotine Replacement Therapies for their clients.”
He continued: “While it is disappointing that so few centres offer vaping, it’s also understandable given the sheer amount of quite frankly irresponsible and harmful misinformation that still persists and, if clinical staff are confused about what’s true or not, then consumers will be doubly so.
“The UKVIA, in close collaboration with partners such as the Smoke Free App, is focused on working directly with NHS Trusts and smoking cessation services to provide the support and guidance required to effectively use vaping to help smokers to switch, delivering an industry-led solution to already-stretched healthcare organisations.”
He added: “We are also dedicated to challenging the near-constant torrent of nonsense and blatant lies about vaping and its effectiveness to help people give up smoking perpetuated by organisations such as the World Health Organisation.”