NHS Stop Smoking Services Assessed, UK

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 21 Aug 2007 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

New research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research's Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme will review the effectiveness of relapse prevention strategies provided by NHS Stop Smoking Services to help those who have quit smoking from re-starting. Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and early death in the UK, costing the NHS up to £1.7 billion every year. There are around 10 million smokers in England, and 70% of these say they want to quit.

The research, led by Professor Ann McNeill and Dr Tim Coleman at the University of Nottingham, will examine existing evidence about the clinical and cost-effectiveness of different treatment strategies for preventing people who have quit smoking from starting again. It is hoped the research will help determine priorities for future research in this field, and the value of such treatment approaches to the NHS and whether or not they should be part of NHS Stop Smoking Services.

NHS Stop Smoking Services are available across the NHS in England and provide counselling and support to smokers wanting to quit, along with treatments like nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and bupropion (Zyban). "NHS Stop Smoking Services are a successful way of helping those who want to stop smoking," says Professor McNeill. "Unfortunately around 85% of people who succeed in quitting will later relapse and start to smoke again."

Little is known about why people relapse to smoking and even less is known about how NHS Stop Smoking Services uses drug treatments and behavioural support to help prevent those people who have quit from relapsing.

Researchers will investigate relapse rates in different socio-economic, ethnic and age groups, and they will survey NHS Stop Smoking Services to determine whether or not and how relapse prevention support is currently offered.

"The government has estimated that with the smoking ban in public places now in action up to 600,000 people across England will decide to quit smoking," says Deborah Arnott, Director of Action on Smoking and Health. "It is vital that effective smoking cessation strategies are in place to help them with this. We welcome this research which will help the development of NHS Stop Smoking Services, and help health professionals to be more confident about the best treatments to offer."

To view full details about this project visit http://www.hta.ac.uk/project/1617.asp

1. Action on Smoking and Health is a campaigning public health charity working to eliminate the harm caused by tobacco, for more information visit http://www.ash.org.uk

2. The HTA programme is a programme of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and produces high quality research information about the effectiveness, costs, and broader impact of health technologies for those who use, manage and provide care in the NHS. It is the largest of the NIHR programmes and publishes the results of its research in the Health Technology Assessment journal, with more than 380 issues published to date. The journal's 2006 Impact Factor (5.29) ranked it in the top 10% of medical and health-related journals. All issues are available for download free of charge from the website, http://www.hta.ac.uk The HTA programme is coordinated by the National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment (NCCHTA), based at the University of Southampton.

3. The National Institute for Health Research provides the framework through which the research staff and research infrastructure of the NHS in England is positioned, maintained and managed as a national research facility. The NIHR provides the NHS with the support and infrastructure it needs to conduct first-class research funded by the Government and its partners alongside high-quality patient care, education and training. Its aim is to support outstanding individuals (both leaders and collaborators), working in world class facilities (both NHS and university), conducting leading edge research focused on the needs of patients. http://www.nihr.ac.uk

• Additional
• References
• Citations