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Statistics on smoking cessation services in Health Authorities: England, April 2001 to March 2002

  • Published date:
    8 August 2002

This statistical press release presents provisional results from the monitoring of the smoking cessation services. These services were launched in the Health Action Zones in 1999/00, and were set up in all Health Authorities in England in 2000/01. Monitoring has continued in all Health Authorities in 2001/02.

The number of successful quitters at the 4 week follow-up (based on self-report) increased from 64,600 in 2000/01 to 119,800 in 2001/02 (an increase of 86%).

The key results show that, in England, during the period April 2001 to March 2002:

  • Around 227,300 people set a quit date through the smoking cessation services.
  • At the 4 week follow-up around 119,800 had successfully quit (based on self-report), 53% of those setting a quit date.
  • Of those setting a quit date, the majority (81%) were aged 18-59; 1% were aged under 18 and 18% were aged 60 and over.
  • The majority of people received Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) or bupropion (Zyban). Around 63% of people received NRT only, around 19% received bupropion only, and around 2% received both NRT and bupropion.
  • The expenditure on smoking cessation services, which does not include the cost of NRT or bupropion on prescription, was £24.6 million.

Some tables giving more details of these results are attached.

Produced by the Government Statistical Service

Table 1: Outcome at 4 weeks (based on self-report) of people setting a quit date in the period April 2001 to March 2002 by gender.

England

 

Numbers

Percentages

 TotalMalesFemalesTotalMalesFemales
Total number setting a quit date22,730898,229129,0791004357
People who had successfully quit after 4 week follow-up (self-report)119,81352,97666,837534456
People who had not quit after 4 week follow-up (self-report)57,16423,38433,780254159
People not know/lost to follow-up50,33121,86928,462224357
Number who had successfully quit after 4 week follow-up (self-report), where CO validation was attempted89,74839,64450,104394456
Number who undertook CO validation and were confirmed as not smoking79,76835,10444,664354456

Notes:

  1. A client is counted as having successfully quit smoking at the 4 week follow-up if he/she has not smoked at all since two weeks after the quit date. The figures presented here are based on self-report of smoking status by the client at the 4 week follow-up.
  2. The above figures include 4,037 pregnant women setting a quit date, of whom 1,941 (48%) had successfully quit (based on self-report) at the 4 week follow-up.
  3. Carbon monoxide (CO) validation measures the level of carbon monoxide in the blood stream and provides an indication on the level of use of tobacco. CO monitoring is offered to clients as a tool to aid smoking cessation. It is generally accepted that it is good practice to carry out CO monitoring due to its usefulness as a motivational tool for clients. However, smoking cessation services did not attempt CO validation on all people who had successfully quit at the 4 week follow-up (self-report).

Table 2: Outcome at 4 weeks (based on self-report) of people setting a quit date in the period April 2001 to March 2002, by age.

England

 

Numbers

Percentages

 TotalUnder 1818-5960 and overTotalUnder 1818-5960 and over
Total number setting a quit date227,3082005183,73041,57310018118
People who had successfully quit after 4 week follow-up (self-report)119,81370793,64425,46210017821
People who had not quit after 4 week follow-up (self-report)57,16466846,36010,13610018118
People not know/lost to follow-up50,33163043,7265,97510018712
Number who had successfully quit after 4 week follow-up (self-report), where CO validation was attempted89,74847869,84119,42910017822
Number who undertook CO validation and were confirmed as not smoking79,76841361,86817,48710017822

Notes:

  1. A client is counted as having successfully quit smoking at the 4 week follow-up if he/she has not smoked at all since two weeks after the quit date. The figures presented here are based on self-report of smoking status by the client at the 4 week follow-up.
  2. The above figures include 4,037 pregnant women setting a quit date, of whom 1,941 (48%) had successfully quit (based on self-report) at the 4 week follow-up.
  3. Carbon monoxide (CO) validation measures the level of carbon monoxide in the blood stream and provides an indication on the level of use of tobacco. CO monitoring is offered to clients as a tool to aid smoking cessation. It is generally accepted that it is good practice to carry out CO monitoring due to its usefulness as a motivational tool for clients. However, smoking cessation services did not attempt CO validation on all people who had successfully quit at the 4 week follow-up (self-report).

Table 3: People setting a quit date in the period April 2001 to March 2002 by ethnicity.

England

 

Numbers

Percentages

 TotalMalesFemalesTotalMalesFemales
Total227,30898,229129,079100100100
White214,03691,403122,633949395
Mixed1,354529825111
Asian3,0022,356646121
Black1,9468681,078111
Other1,062566496010
Not Known5,9082,5073,401333

Notes:

  1. These categories are based on those used for the 2001 census. Further guidance on collecting ethnicity category data is available on the Department of Health website.

Table 4: Receipt of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and bupropion (Zyban) by people setting a quit date in the period April 2001 to March 2002.

England

 TotalPercentage
Total number of people setting a quit date227,308100
Number who received NRT only142,24963
Number who received bupropion (Zyban) only44,26919
Number who received both NRT and bupropion (Zyban)4,5132
Number who did not receive either NRT or bupropion (Zyban)24,37611
Number where treatment option not known11,9015

Notes:

  1. 'Received' means obtained by prescription, purchase or supply free of charge.
  2. A client is counted as 'treatment option not known' if he/she is lost to follow-up at 4 weeks and it is not known if they received NRT and/or bupropion.
  3. NRT became available on NHS prescription in April 2001; previously NRT was available through the smoking cessation services on a voucher scheme.
  4. In the period April 2001 to March 2002, 989,000 prescription items on NRT products and 189,000 items of bupropion were dispensed in the community in England. The Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) over this time was £21.7 million for NRT products and £7.3 million for bupropion. This information is taken from the PACT (Prescription Analyses and Cost) data from the Prescription Pricing Agency (PPA) held by the Department of Health Statistics Division 1E. PACT covers all prescriptions prescribed in GP practices in England which are dispensed in the community. The Net Ingredient Cost is the basic cost of a drug and does not take account of discounts, dispensing costs, fees or prescription charges income.
  5. PACT data only covers NRT received on prescription. It does not include NRT obtained via other sources such as local voucher schemes, patient group directive or purchased over the counter.

Table 5: People setting a quit date during the period April 2001 to March 2002, success rate at 4 weeks, and success rate per 100,000 population aged 16 and over (based on self-report), by Regional Office area and by whether a Health Action Zone.

England

 Number of people setting a quit dateNumber of people who had successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)% successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)Number of people who had successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report) per 100,000 population aged 16 and over
England227,308119,81353300
Regional Office    
Northern & Yorkshire52,07728,64255565
Trent17,4891,05259248
Eastern15,6489,81263225
London20,0149,13346155
South East17,62010,11357145
South West23,92712,88954320
West Midlands28,80214,91852353
North West51,73124,05446459
     
Health Action Zones (HAZ)105,67453,19350491
     
Other Health Authorities (non-HAZ)121,63466,62055229

Notes:

  1. A client is counted as having successfully quit smoking at the 4 week follow-up if he/she has not smoked at all since two weeks after the quit date. The figures presented here are based on self-report of smoking status by the client at the 4 week follow-up.
  2. There is great variation in the number of Health Action Zones in each Regional Office area; there are no Health Action Zones in the South East Regional Office area. Services were set up in the Health Action Zones in 1999/2000 and in other Health Authorities in 2000/01.
  3. Twenty-six Health Action Zones (HAZs) have been established in England by the government in areas of deprivation and poor health to tackle health inequalities and modernise services through local innovation. Further information is available on www.haznet.org.uk.

Table 6: People setting a quit date during the three month periods April to June 2000 to January to March 2002, and success rate at 4 weeks (based on self-report).

England

 Number of people setting a quit dateNumber of people who had successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)% successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)
Total: April 2000 to March 2001132,54464,55449
April to June 200012,4324,24234
July to September 200020,6949,22945
October to December  200030,94615,41150
January to March 200168,47235,67252
Total: April 2001 to March 2002227,308119,81353
April to June 200156,93528,82851
July to September 200148,57825,05452
October to December 200148,15525,51853
January to March 200273,64040,41355

Notes:

  1. A client is counted as having successfully quit smoking at the 4 week follow-up if he/she has not smoked at all since two weeks after the quit date. The figures presented here are based on self-report of smoking status by the client at the 4 week follow-up.
  2. Smoking cessation services were set up in the Health Action Zones in 1999/00 and were rolled out across all Health Authorities in 2000/01.
  3. There have been minor revisions to the provisional figures from April to December 2001 published on 9 May 2002. In Quarter 1 (April to June 2001) the number of people setting a quit date has been revised from 56,689 to 56,935 and the number successful revised from 28,689 to 28,828. For Quarter 2 (July to September 2001) the number of people setting a quit date has been revised from 48,496 to 48,578 and the number successful revised from 24,988 to 25,054. For Quarter 3 (October to December 2001) the number of people setting a quit date has been revised from 47,814 to 48,155 and the number successful revised from 25,368 to 25,518.

Notes to editor

  1. Press copies of the statistical press release, Statistics on smoking cessation services in the Health Authorities in England, April 2001 to March 2002 are available from: the Department of Health Press Office, tel: 020 7210 5221.
  2. The white paper, Smoking kills, was published in December 1998 outlining the Government's policies on smoking. This contained three key targets: young people's smoking; adult smoking; and pregnant women. The establishment of smoking cessation services in the NHS is an important element of the Government's strategy for tackling smoking in recognition that many smokers want to stop, but find it hard to do so. This policy has been more recently restated in the NHS Plan and the NHS Cancer Plan.
  3. Smoking cessation services were launched in the Health Action Zones in 1999/00, with services rolled out across the NHS in 2000/01. In the three years up to and including 2001/02, £53m has been made available for these services with a further substantial amount for Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and bupropion (Zyban) on NHS prescription. A further £20m has been made available for the smoking cessation services in 2002/03.
  4. For 2001/02, a target was set for the services of 50,000 successful quitters at the 4 week follow up (based on self-report); for 2002/03, the target is 100,000 successful quitters at the 4 week follow-up.
  5. Final figures for 2000/01 were published as a statistical bulletin on 5 December 2001. A statistical press release presenting provisional results for April 2001 to December 2001 was published on 9 May 2002. A statistical bulletin giving more detailed results for 2001/02 is planned for publication this autumn.
  6. A statistical bulletin presenting information from a variety of sources on smoking titled Statistics on smoking: England, 1978 onwards was published on 20 July 2000. Copies of this bulletin are available from: Department of Health, PO Box 777, London SEI 6XH, Tel: 0871 555 455 and Fax: 01623 724 524. Press copies are available from the Department of Health Press Office, tel: 020 7210 5221.
  7. The telephone number for the NHS smoking helpline is 0800 169 0 169. The telephone number for the NHS pregnancy smoking helpline is 0800 169 9 169.
  • Contact:
    Press officer
  • Address:
    Media Centre, Department of Health
    Richmond House, 79 Whitehall
    London
    SW1A 2NL
  • Phone:
    Media Centre
    020 7210 5221

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