Visit Your Pharmacy This No Smoking Day

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Also Included In: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 10 Mar 2010 - 7:00 PDT

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Helping a man to stop smoking after 43 years and supporting a woman to quit cigarettes following 15 previous relapses are just two examples where a local pharmacy made the difference of a life time.

This No Smoking Day on Wednesday 10 March the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) is advising the public to make a trip to their community pharmacy as the first step towards quitting for good.

Every year thousands of people across the UK give up smoking on the national day and this year's campaign theme, Break free, we can help, has come from smokers themselves. It acknowledges that No Smoking Day is the time for smokers to break free from their smoking habit and escape their chains of addiction.

The RPSGB will run a campaign to raise public awareness that pharmacists are on the front line for providing expert advice and support to help people in their endeavour to stop smoking.

Community pharmacist and RPSGB spokesperson, Sultan Sid Dajani said: "Stopping smoking requires commitment and planning and pharmacists are ideally placed to offer advice and information about the support available."

"People come to us wanting to quit smoking for so many reasons and we have great job satisfaction in helping them achieve their desired outcomes. In my pharmacy our heaviest smoker of 70 a day quit on her second attempt and a lady who had 15 relapses previously has not smoked a cigarette for 6 months."

The benefits of stopping smoking and further advice on how to get help can be obtained from your local pharmacy. Pharmacists are among the most accessible of healthcare professionals, with branches open in the high street at convenient times, often when GP surgeries are closed and many offering private consultation rooms. 99% of people can reach a pharmacy within 20 minutes.

Smoking cessation is the most common enhanced service provided by pharmacies in UK and many will stock the quitting aids available. Pharmacists are also increasingly being used by Primary Care Trusts as No Smoking Advisors in their local communities.

Notes

Smoking facts and figures

- Around 12 million adults smoke cigarettes in Great Britain
- About half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their addiction
- Every year, around 114,000 smokers in the UK die from smoking related causes
- Over 80% of smokers start as teenagers

Figures from http://www.newash.org.uk

- Ten years after quitting smoking an ex-smoker's risk of lung cancer is reduced by 30 to 50% compared with that of a continuing smoker

- Smokers who stop before the age of 35 have a life expectancy not significantly different from that of a non-smoker

- Giving up a 20-a-day will is like a £42 a week pay rise! Stop on No Smoking Day and by June you can save over £500.

Figures from http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk

No Smoking Day

No Smoking Day, Wednesday 11 March, is organised by a charity of the same name. It is in its 27th year and is a registered charity supported by an alliance of the UK's health promotion agencies and major health charities. For more information about the campaign go to http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk

Source
Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

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