Website of the Department of Health

Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.

Main menu

Page menu

Publications

Statistics on smoking cessation services in England, April to September 2002

Published date:

20 February 2003

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.Of those clients who set a quit date during the period April to September 2002, 54,700 had successfully quit at the 4 week follow up; this compares with 53,500 (an increase of 2% over the same period in 2001).

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

Around 106,900 people set a quit date through the smoking cessation services.
At the 4 week follow-up around 54,700 had successfully quit (based on self-report), 51% of those setting a quit date.
Of those setting a quit date, more than half (53%) were aged 35-59; 27% were aged 18-34, 1% were aged under 18 and 18% were aged 60 and over.
The majority of people received Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). Around 73% of people received NRT only, around 12% 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 £10.4 million. Some tables giving more details of these results are attached.Produced by the Government Statistical Service

Table 1 Outcome at 4 weeks of people setting a quit date in the period April to September 2002 by gender. England
	Numbers			Percentages
	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females
Total number setting a quit date	106,912	45,634	61,278	100	100	100
People who had successfully quit at 4 week follow-up (self-report)	54,728	23,964	30,764	51	53	50
People who had not quit at 4 weekfollow-up (self-report)	26,663	10,667	15,996	25	23	26
People not known/lost to follow up	25,521	11,003	14,518	24	24	24
CO validation
Number who had successfully quit at 4 week follow-up (self-report), where CO validation was attempted	41,348	17,988	23,360	39	39	38
Number who undertook CO validation and were confirmed as not smoking	37,114	16,184	20,930	35	35	34

Notes:

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 above figures include 3,088 pregnant women setting a quit date, of whom 1,222 (40%) had successfully quit (based on self-report) at the 4 week follow- up.
Carbon Monoxide (CO) validation measures the level of carbon monoxide in the bloodstream 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 (based on self-report).

Table 2 Outcome at 4 weeks of people setting a quit date in the period April to September 2002, by age group
England	Numbers and percentages
	Total	Under 18	18-34	35-44	45-59	60 and over
Numbers
Total number setting a quit date	106,912	1,507	28,724	25,252	31,803	19,626
People who had successfully quit at 4 week follow-up (self report)	54,728	521	12,755	12,336	17,106	12,010
People who had not quit at 4 week follow-up (selfreport)	26,663	521	7,443	6,363	7,767	4,569
People not known/lost to follow up	25,521	465	8,526	6,553	6,930	3,047
CO validation
Number who had successfully quit at 4 week follow-up(self report) where CO validation was attempted	41,348	338	9,359	9,239	13,055	9,357
Number who undertook CO validation and wereconfirmed as not smoking	37,114	297	8,318	8,295	11,771	8,433
Percentages
Total number setting a quit date	100	100	100	100	100	100
People who had successfully quit at 4 week follow-up (self report)	51	35	44	49	54	61
People who had not quit at 4 week follow-up (self report)	25	35	26	25	24	23
People not known/lost to follow up	24	31	30	26	22	16
CO validation
Number who had successfully quit at 4 week follow-up (self report), where CO validation was attempted	39	22	33	37	41	48
Number who undertook CO validation and were confirmed as not smoking	35	20	29	33	37	43

Notes:

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 above figures include 3,088 pregnant women setting a quit date, of whom 1,222 (40%) had successfullyquit (based on self-report) at the 4 week follow-up.
Carbon Monoxide (CO) validation measures the level of carbon monoxide in the bloodstream 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 (based on self-report).

Table 3 People setting a quit date in the period April to September 2002 by ethnicity. England
Ethnicity	Numbers			Percentages
	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females
Total	106,912	45,634	61,278	100	100	100
White	100,862	42,401	58,461	94	93	95
Mixed	647	252	395	1	1	1
Asian	1,669	1,287	382	2	3	1
Black	880	376	504	1	1	1
Other	591	335	256	1	1	0
Not known	2,263	983	1,280	2	2	2

Notes:

These categories are based on those used for the 2001 census.

Table 4 Receipt of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and bupropion (Zyban) by people setting a quit date in the period April to September 2002. England
	Total	Percentage
Total number of people setting a quit date	106,912	100
Number who received NRT only	78,266	73
Number who received bupropion	12,903	12
(Zyban) only
Number who received both NRT and bupropion (Zyban)	1,762	2
Number who did not receive either NRT or bupropion (Zyban)	9,807	9
Number where treatment option not known	4,174	4

Notes:

'Received' means obtained by prescription, purchase or supply free of charge
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.
NRT became available on NHS prescription in April 2001; previously NRT was available through the smoking cessation services on a voucher scheme.
In the period April to September 2002, 558,200 prescription items of NRT products and 64,200 items of bupropion were dispensed in the community in England. The Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) over this time was £12.2 million for NRT products and £2.5 million for bupropion. This information is taken from PACT (Prescription Analyses and Cost) data from the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA) held by 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 charge income.
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 5a People setting a quit date during the period April to September 2002, number and percentage successful at 4 weeks, and number successful per 100,000 population aged 16 and over (based on self-report), by Government Office Region and whether or not a Health Action Zone
	Number setting a quit date	Number successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)	% successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)	Number successfully quit (self-report) per 100,000 population aged 16 and over
England	106,912	54,728	51	137
Government Office Regions
North East	13,044	7,077	54	343
North West	24,913	11,184	45	203
Yorkshire and The Humber	14,177	7,638	54	190
East Midlands	5,284	2,937	56	88
West Midlands	13,526	6,799	50	161
East of England	7,927	4,747	60	109
London	8,441	3,878	46	66
South East	8,544	4,762	56	73
South West	11,056	5,706	52	142
Health Action Zones and other Health Authorities
Health Action Zones (HAZ)	47,473	23,269	49	243
Other Health Authorities (non-HAZ)	59,439	31,459	53	104

Notes:

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.
Services were set up in the Health Action Zones in 1999/00 and in the former Health Authorities in 2000/01. There is great variation in the number Action Zones in each Government Office area: there are, for example, none in the South East GOR.
Twenty six Health Action Zones (HAZs) have been established in England by the government in areas of deprivation and poor health to tackle inequalities and modernise services through local innovation. £20 million was made available for smoking cessation services in 2002/03; £10 million to the HAZs and £10 million to the other health authorities. The HAZ only cover 27% of the population aged 16 and over, therefore the HAZ received proportionately more money. Further information about HAZ is available on www.haznet.org.uk.
The rate of people who successfully quit at 4 weeks (based on self report) per 100,000 population aged 16 and over uses 2000 mid-year population estimates based on the 1991 census. Per capita rates are subject to revision following ONS revisions to census based population data, expected in late February 2003.

Table 5b People setting a quit date during the period April to September 2002, number and percentage successful at 4 weeks, and number successful per 100,000 population aged 16 and over (based on self-report), by Strategic Health Authority
	Number setting a quit date	Number successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)	% successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)	Number successfully quit (self-report) per 100,000 population aged 16 and over
England	106,912	54,728	51	137
Avon, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire	5,291	2,660	50	151
Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire	1,894	1,184	63	93
Birmingham & The Black Country	4,365	2,171	50	120
Cheshire & Merseyside	10,502	4,827	46	254
County Durham & Tees Valley	4,992	3,039	61	328
Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire & Worcestershire	3,913	1,997	51	164
Cumbria & Lancashire	6,691	3,459	52	225
Dorset & Somerset	1,537	943	61	97
Essex	1,517	1,148	76	88
Greater Manchester	7,720	2,898	38	140
Hampshire & Isle of Wight	1,659	957	58	67
Kent & Medway	1,169	643	55	51
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland	1,424	772	54	62
Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire	4,516	2,415	53	136
North & East Yorkshire, Northern Lincolnshire	3,760	2,191	58	167
North Central London	1,801	901	50	92
North East London	2,168	971	45	85
North West London	943	503	53	33
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear	8,052	4,038	50	354
Shropshire & Staffordshire	5,248	2,631	50	219
South East London	2,169	912	42	77
South West London	1,360	591	43	55
South West Peninsula	4,228	2,103	50	163
South Yorkshire	2,707	1,616	60	155
Surrey & Sussex	3,698	2,149	58	102
Thames Valley	2,018	1,013	50	60
Trent	3,860	2,165	56	103
West Yorkshire	7,710	3,831	50	229

Notes:

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.
Services were set up in the Health Action Zones in 1999/00 and in the former Health Authorities in 2000/01. There is great variation in the number Action Zones in each Government Office area: there are, for example, none in the South East GOR.
Twenty six Health Action Zones (HAZs) have been established in England by the government in areas of deprivation and poor health to tackle inequalities and modernise services through local innovation. £20 million was made available for smoking cessation services in 2002/03; £10 million to the HAZs and £10 million to the other health authorities. The HAZ only cover 27% of the population aged 16 and over, therefore the HAZ received proportionately more money. Further information about HAZ is available on www.haznet.org.uk.
The rate of people who successfully quit at 4 weeks (based on self report) per 100,000 population aged 16 and over uses 2000 mid-year population estimates based on the 1991 census. Per capita rates are subject to revision following ONS revisions to census based population data, expected in late February 2003.

Table 6 People setting a quit date during the three month periods April to June 2000, to July to September 2002, and number and percentage successful at 4 weeks (based on self-report).
England	Numbers and percentages
	Number setting a quit date	Number successfully quit at 4 weeks (self-report)	% successfully quit at 4 weeks(self-report)
Quarterly data
April to June 2000	12,432	4,242	34
July to September 2000	20,694	9,229	45
October to December 2000	30,946	15,411	50
January to March 2001	68,472	35,672	52
April to June 2001	56,935	28,828	51
July to September 2001	48,578	25,054	52
October to December 2001	48,155	25,518	53
January to March 2002	73,667	40,434	55
April to June 2002	58,898	30,309	51
July to September 2002	48,014	24,419	51
Annual data
April 2000 to March 2001	132,544	64,554	49
April 2001 to March 2002	227,335	119,834	53

Notes:

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.
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.
There have been some minor revisions to the provisional figures published in a Statistical Press Notice on 7 November 2002. The number of people setting a quit date in 2002/03 Quarter 1 (April to June 2002) has been revised from 57,055 to 58,898. The number who had successfully quit at the 4 week follow up (self-report) has been revised from 29,375 to 30,309.

Notes to editor

Press copies of the statistical press release, Statistics on smoking cessation services in the Health Authorities in England, April to September 2002 are available from: the Department of Health Press Office, tel: 020 7210 5221.
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.
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.
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. A target for the three years 2003/4 to 2005/06 of 800,000 successful quitters at the 4 week follow up (based on self report) has been announced in the document Priorities and Planning Framework 2003-2006.
Information on the number of people setting a quit date, and the number who successfully quit at the 4 week follow-up (self report), for each Strategic Health Authority, has been included for the first time (table 5b).
Final figures for 2001/02 were published in a Statistical Bulletin on 7 November 2002.
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.
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

Website of the Department of Health

News releases

Main menu

Page menu

Publications

You are here:

Statistics on smoking cessation services in England, April to September 2002

Notes to editor

Additional links

Travelling?

Global links

Access keys