§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the NHS's progress towards a world-leading smoking cessation service. [160917]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe national health service stop smoking services, set up in 1999, are now well established across England and are a world-leading service. They provide expert advice and support, with nicotine replacement therapy and zyban available on prescription, to smokers wanting to quit. The Department of Health's monitoring results show that in the financial year 2002–03 the services helped around 124,100 people successfully quit (based on self report), at four week follow up.
To evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the national health service stop smoking services, the Department of Health commissioned a team led by Glasgow University to carry out a comprehensive study.
255WThe first results of this evaluation was published in September 2003 as "Bauld L et al. Impact of UK national health service smoking cessation services: variations in outcomes in England. Tobacco Control 2003; 12:296–301." The key finding was that
Well-developed, evidence-based NHS services, reflecting good practice, are yielding positive outcomes".The final results of the studies are due to be published in autumn 2004.
A copy of this research is available in the Library.