No Smoking Day: Is your resolve weakening?

This No Smoking Day, research suggests that over a half (52%) of the two million UK smokers who made a New Year’s Resolution to stop are likely to be smoking again, less than three months on.

This comes as a new online ‘surgery’ is launched, staffed by GPs, offering smokers the opportunity to seek instant healthcare advice on quitting smoking in a confidential environment. The GPs will be on hand to answer questions via a confidential Instant Messenger Service.

Unfortunately it seems where there’s a will there’s not always a way as the most common method smokers try is will power alone (72%) – but research shows that only around 3% of smokers who give up this way will still be smoke-free after a year. Help from friends, family and most importantly stop-smoking experts is highly advisable in the battle to quit.

Among UK smokers surveyed, four in five (82%) recognise the damaging health impact of smoking, yet less than half (45%) would consider visiting their doctor for advice and help to stop. Even fewer would consult their local stop smoking service (34%) or pharmacist (21%), according to research conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Pfizer.

This is despite previous research showing that even brief advice from a healthcare professional increases the chances of quitting successfully by as much as 30%.

Dr Paul Aveyard, Senior Lecturer in Primary Care Clinical Sciences at the University of Birmingham and a stop smoking expert, said: “As doctors, we see many smokers who are desperate to stop smoking. It’s a very difficult thing to do and can often take several attempts. I would encourage smokers who are serious about stopping to go back to their healthcare professional or local stop smoking service until they find a method that works for them.”

Echoing Dr Aveyard is Dr Berkeley Phillips, Medical Director at Pfizer who said: “Our research shows that many smokers recognise the harmful effects of smoking and want to stop. However, by going it alone in their quit attempt - particularly when there is a wealth of NHS support available - smokers are not giving themselves the best chance of success.

“For many, smoking is not just a lifestyle choice. Many smokers are addicted to nicotine and dependent on tobacco. Acknowledging this is a crucial first step and could be the all-important catalyst that smokers need to seek professional medical help and succeed in becoming smokefree.”

Wednesday 10th March is No Smoking Day, and the online ‘surgery’ will be open for a week from this date, from 12:00 to 15.00 and 17.00 to 21.00 every day until Tuesday 16th March inclusive, to help smokers who have either tried and failed to quit, or have recently realised they want to stop. Smokers should go to quitwithhelp.co.uk to have a confidential conversation with a GP about quitting smoking.