The annual Stoptober challenge, to encourage people to stop smoking for a whole month, was deemed a success in B&NES following a number of initiatives run by Virgin Care’s Healthy Lifestyle Service.
The campaign was the first which Virgin Care has delivered since taking over Community Health and Care services in Bath and north East Somerset,
During the month, a pop up shop in Bath city centre gave advice to more than 300 people who walked into the shop, while more than 250 advice cards were given out.
The Stoptober red ball visited five events in the county including university fresher’s fairs, two GP surgeries and two schools to help raise awareness and colleagues were available to offer help and support for people to stop smoking.
Nearly 20 people also had a carbon monoxide (CO) test to see how much of the gas they had been exposed to from smoking.
In the county, there are more than 20,000 adult smokers and while this is below the England average, Public Health England and the Healthy Lifestyle Service are continuing to work hard to reduce the number further.
Free face-to-face support or telephone support is available to any smoker who lives and works in Bath and North East Somerset through the Healthy Lifestyle Stop Smoking Support team.
This support can include help to either stop smoking completely, cut down gradually prior to your quit date or cut down to reduce the harm from your smoking.
When people get in touch, one of the services’ friendly and fully trained health improvement practitioners will talk to them about their options and help create a plan to reach their goal.
People can call the Healthy Lifestyle Hub on 01225 831852 to arrange an appointment or visit the website for more details of the services’ weekly stop smoking drop in details.
Julie Harrington, Smoking Cessation Lead for the Healthy Lifestyle Service at Virgin Care, said: “We’re pleased to have reached so many people during October but with 2018 upon us, there’s no better time to set a New Year’s Resolution to stop smoking.
“If people access support from our specialist Stop Smoking Service they are four times more likely to quit smoking and stay quit.”
Councillor Vic Pritchard (Conservative Chew Valley South) Cabinet Member for Adult Care, Health and Well-being added: “While Stoptober was just one way to help people stop smoking, and its success was seen across Bath and North East Somerset, there’s still a lot of free support available including face to face help from the Healthy Lifestyle Service, or via a dedicated app.
“Those who use stop smoking aids and seek help from their local stop smoking services will increase their chances of packing in smoking for good.”
The Healthy Lifestyle Service is one of a number of services overseen by Virgin Care as part of the Bath and North East Somerset Health and Care Services which it runs on behalf of the local council and Bath and North East Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group.
