PHA highlights stop smoking services in support of ‘Stoptober’

Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness, premature death and health inequality throughout Northern Ireland with around 2,300 people dying prematurely each year from smoking-related illnesses such as coronary heart disease, stroke and many cancers.

With this in mind the Public Health Agency (PHA) is urging all local smokers to support ‘Stoptober’ – a campaign running in England and Wales to encourage smokers to go smoke-free during the month of October.

The campaign seeks to encourage as many smokers as possible to attempt to go without smoking for 28 days throughout October as they are five times more likely to stop for good if they successfully make it through the first four weeks of their quit attempt.

The PHA recently launched its new stop smoking mass media campaign which takes a two-stranded approach to motivate and encourage smokers to make a quit attempt. The campaign complements the concept of Stoptober by also highlighting that if you stop for 28 days or more, you are five times more likely to stop for good. It also promotes the support available to help people to stop smoking.

Gerry Bleakney, Strategic Lead for Tobacco Control with the PHA, said: “Stopping smoking is the single most important thing you can do for your health.  However, it is not easy and different approaches will work for different people. While some people might be able to do it with very little support, others find that planning ahead and making use of the Stop Smoking Support Services that are available can really help them make the decision permanent.

 “If you quit and then relapse, accept it, work out why it happened, and focus on how you can avoid it in the future. It takes several efforts for many people to quit for good, but if you are determined, you will do it. Last year thousands of people decided to stop using the PHA’s Stop Smoking Services and many others did so, on their own. ‘Be prepared’ is the motto for success.”

For more information and useful tips to stop smoking visit the PHA’s ‘Want 2 Stop’ website at www.want2stop.info and order a ‘Quit Kit’ free of charge. Alternatively contact the Smokers’ Helpline on 0808 812 8008.

There are also over 600 free stop smoking specialist services across Northern Ireland in pharmacies, GP surgeries, hospitals, communities and workplaces that can help with your quit attempt.