Scottish Figures Highlight A Worrying Gap
New figures released by Public Health Scotland highlight a worrying gap in the effectiveness of the smoking cessation services, according to VPZ Director Doug Mutter
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by Dave Cross
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Services in Scotland and their progress towards their annual Local Delivery Plan (LDP) Standard. NHS Scotland says the LDP Standard in 2023/24 is to achieve at least 7,026 self-reported successful twelve-week quits through smoking cessation services in the 40% most deprived areas. Top vape company VPZ says all the figures do is to highlight a worrying gap in the effectiveness of the smoking cessation services as only 74% of targets have been met.
During Q4 of 2023/24, NHS Scotland says it achieved 99% (1,736 quits out of 1,757) of the required quarterly LDP Standard. In the financial year 2023/24, NHS Scotland goes on to brag that it achieved 74% (5,185 quits out of 7,026) towards the required annual LDP standard.
Public Health Scotland says: “In July 2005 a national smoking cessation database was set up to capture data on people presenting to NHS services in Scotland for help to stop smoking. The database is designed to collect the national minimum dataset for smoking cessation services from all 14 NHS Boards in Scotland. The minimum dataset is the mandatory client information required for national monitoring purposes, developed by PATH (Partnership Action on Tobacco and Health).
“From July 2014, information about service activity and outcomes from pharmacy services was recorded through the smoking cessation support tool available in the Pharmacy Care Record. This forms part of the minimum dataset. The smoking cessation minimum data set is electronically submitted from Pharmacy Care Record to the national smoking cessation database.
“Figures are based on total quit attempts set during the year, rather than total number of people with a quit attempt, so could include repeat quit attempts for the same person. The LDP Standard changed in 2018/19 to exclude quit attempts in prisons, therefore comparisons of quit attempts prior to 2018/19 are based on different definitions and are not valid.”
Doug Mutter
Responding to the announcement, VPZ Director, Doug Mutter said: “Latest Public Health Scotland figures highlight a worrying gap in the effectiveness of the smoking cessation services with only 74% of targets met. These are concerning facts that reveal a clear lack of consistency in addressing public health's number one killer - smoking.
“We believe it is time to embrace the facts that vaping is twice as effective than standard stop-smoking methods and incorporate it as a smoking-cessation tool into the current NHS services strategy.
“VPZ has already helped over 1 million smokers successfully quit since its establishment, demonstrating the impact vaping can have when paired with professional advice and face-to-face support.
“By fully embracing vaping, NHS Scotland could transform the health of the nation and achieve its 2034 Smoke-free target while ensuring that more people get the help they need to quit. We are committed to working alongside health authorities and the Scottish Government to eliminate smoking once and for all.”
References:
- Public Health Scotland Summary - https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/29197/2024-09-24-stopsmokingldpstandard-summary.pdf
- VPZ - https://www.vpz.co.uk/
Photo Credit:
Flag Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash, graph from Public Health Scotland, Doug Mutter from VPZ
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
