ACCORDING to new data, Warrington has been revealed as having the best success rate for people quitting smoking in the UK.
The data reveals 75% of smokers in Warrington have successfully quit smoking, with six experienced, qualified smoking advisors, now providing support via local leisure and lifestyle provider LiveWire.
The online data compiled by vaping company Haypp compares all of the cities around the UK based on the success rate for quitting smoking as well as government expenditure and other data such as gender and age.
Looking at the gender split, the percentage of successful male quitters is 84% compared to slightly less for females at 66%, although shockingly, only 56% of pregnant smokers in Warrington successfully quit!
The research also found that the age group with the best chance of quitting in Warrington was 35-44.
In terms of funding, the Total Government Expenditure for Warrington was £281,822, led by Thara Raj the Warrington Director of Public Health. This figure shows how much governmental expenditure was spent in Warrington on quit-smoking campaigns and services. Warrington has established their smoke-free service with LiveWire – who offer support via social media and 1-to-1 appointments (and you can even do self-referral).
The top performing authorities, based on the percentage of successful quitters, alongside Warrington, were Rotherham, Barnsley and Dudley. On the other end of the scale, some of the worst performing authorities were Sutton, West Sussex, Warwickshire and Swindon.
Tom Kearney, LiveWire Smokefree Lead and Lifestyles Officer said: “We are delighted to hear that Warrington has the UK’s highest success rate for smoking cessation. Our involvement with specific GP practises inside PCNs, solid connections with health partners, and community outreach activities have all increased our offer and helped us reach more people than ever before.
“We now have six experienced, qualified smoking advisors who provide face-to-face, telephone, and virtual support in addition to creating and delivering training to give external partners the confidence to start those first conversations about quitting smoking. This is made possible by a significant investment from Warrington Borough Council.
“We are strengthening our workplace offerings, providing policies and staff assistance to Warrington employers, and continuing to serve young people and schools, all of which will allow us to continue with our high engagement and success rates.”
Meanwhile, Markus Lindblad, from Haypp, said: “Following UK government guidance, those who reduce the amount they smoke are more likely to stop smoking eventually, particularly if they are using licensed nicotine-containing product alternatives. The national harm reduction strategy, where the switch to alternative, less harmful, nicotine products such as nicotine pouches is encouraged, has been key to the UK being one of the most successful countries in Europe in reducing the number of smokers.”
“There are several other possible contributing factors to these success rates, but the fact that each of these local authorities is offering support in multiple locations and in many forms across the area is likely to be one of the biggest factors. For example, Rotherham, and Warrington have invested heavily in quit smoking resources, with both investing over £250,000 into their local initiatives. Hopefully, these figures will continue to rise as more people quit smoking or use smoking alternatives.”
The proportion of smokers in England has been falling for many years – while 19.8% of the population were smokers in 2011, this number had fallen to 13.9% by 2019. This trend is expected to continue downwards to 2.5% by 2050, according to the government.
