Smokers' 46,000 bids to kick habit

Smokers made more than 46,000 attempts to quit in the year that Scotland's ban on lighting up in enclosed spaces was introduced, figures have revealed.

And more than a third of those who tried to give up cigarettes said they had not smoked a month after quitting.

The figures, released on the first anniversary of the introduction of the smoking ban, showed there were 46,466 bids to kick the habit between January and December last year.

An estimated 4.3% of all smokers used NHS stop smoking services in a bid to quit over the course of the year.

The numbers of smokers attempting to give up was highest during the first four months of the year, in the run-up to and immediately following the new law coming into effect on March 26.

Smokers set themselves 8,793 dates to give up their habit in March alone. Of the 46,466 quit attempts, follow-up bids were made to track the progress of 45,641 smokers a month on.

And 15,471 said they had not smoked "even a puff" in the last two weeks, meaning 34% had successfully quit. A further 34% admitted they were still smoking and 32% were not able to be followed up.

But the proportion who were still not smoking three months on fell to 18%. There were differences across the health board regions in the number of people contacting NHS stop smoking services and the success rates.

In the Western Isles smokers made just 12 attempts to give up using NHS stop smoking services - meaning an estimated 0.3% of smokers contacted health workers for help. In the Greater Glasgow region there were 202,093 quit attempts, with an estimated 7.9% of smokers asking for assistance from the NHS to give up.

And in the Grampian region an estimated 9.7% of smokers used NHS smoking cessation services.

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