When you quit smoking, it reduces your risk of illness, disability or death caused by cancer, heart or lung disease. It will protect the health of the people around you by reducing their exposure to secondhand smoke. It will also save you money - the average smoker saves around £2,000 a year when they quit.
If you are pregnant, stopping smoking is even more important. The risks of smoking during pregnancy are serious, from premature delivery to increased risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and sudden infant death.
Read more about quitting smoking on the NHS website.
How to quit smoking - local support from our Living Well Smokefree team
Living Well Smokefree has a team of stop smoking advisors who have plenty of experience in helping people to stop smoking for good. They will see anyone from the age of 12. The advisors can help smokers quit remotely but also have community based locations across North Yorkshire.
If you are pregnant and would like to quit, you can access the service yourself or ask your midwife to refer you.
Living Well Smokefree offers personalised, one-to-one support over six to 12 weeks. The products are free to people who do not pay prescription charges. For those who do it will cost a prescription charge per product, which is cheaper than the cost of smoking cigarettes. It is cost effective to buy a three month prescription prepayment certificate (PPC) as this covers all your prescriptions within this period no matter how many you need. This certificate costs £31.25.
Get a prescription prepayment certificate.
When you use the Living Well Smokefree service you can get:
- access to a dedicated, local stop smoking advisor
- a supply of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) - other stop smoking quit aids are available subject to availability
- weekly one-to-one sessions either in person, remotely or a combination of the two
We know that people who use this combination of support are three times more likely to quit for good.
Contact us for support and advice about giving up smoking for good from the Living Well Smokefree team.
Useful information for stopping smoking on your own
Around half of all smokers in England try to quit using willpower alone, which is the least effective quitting method. If you’d like to try going smokefree, visit NHS Smokefree for information on free quitting tools:
- download the NHS Smokefree app on the NHS website
- free Personal Quit Plan on the NHS website
- stop smoking in pregnancy on the NHS website
The Cancer Research website also provides information on how to stop smoking.