Smokers across the West Midlands are being urged to take part in Stoptober – the mass quitting challenge from Public Health England starting on 1st October – and join the nearly 15 million people across the country who have already quit.  The smoking rate across the West Midlands has fallen by 2.6% over the past four years to 15.7%. Last year, over 21,000 people signed up to Stoptober in the region.

Last year, out of the 2.5 million smokers who made a quit attempt, 500,000 people (20%) were successful - the highest recorded success rate and up from just 13.6% six years ago. This increase in successful stop smoking attempts reflects the high number of people using quitting aids across England. In 2015, just over a million people (1,027,000) used an e-cigarette in a quit attempt while around 700,000 used a licensed nicotine replacement product such as patches or gum.

Dr Lola Abudu, Deputy Director for Health and Wellbeing at PHE West Midlands said: “Every year we are seeing the numbers of people quitting smoking across the West Midlands fall. Whilst this is always good news we know that there are still many people out there who want to give up and need the support that campaigns like Stoptober give them to quit smoking for good.”

In Shropshire the County Council will be holding an event at the Mayfair Health & Wellbeing Centre at Church Stretton on 28th September to promote Stoptober and a new Help2Quit clinic that will be starting there in October.

Dr. Gina Radford, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said: “While we know that quitting smoking is not easy, this Stoptober is a perfect time to try again. The best thing a smoker can do for their health is to stop smoking. There is more help and support available now than ever before.  The introduction of standardised packs removes the glamorous branding and brings health warnings to the fore and e-cigarettes, which many smokers find helpful for quitting, are now regulated to assure their safety and quality.

“We also have a range of free support that can go direct to your phone, laptop or tablet via the Stoptober app, a daily email service or Facebook Messenger bot. The new Stoptober website also has advice and information on stop smoking services and quitting aids. Stoptober has helped lots of smokers quit for 28 days and beyond. So if you smoke, why not make this Stoptober the time you quit – for good.” 

Ex- England cricketer and Question of Sport captain, Phil Tufnell, comments:

“I’m really pleased to be supporting Stoptober this year. I have smoked pretty steadily since I was a teenager, even through my cricket career. I have tried to give up before and know how tough it is, but I am going to try and quit again from 1 October.

“Even if you have tried quitting before like me and failed, just give it another go and keep trying. The more you try to quit the more likely you are to get there. Stoptober is here to help, so let’s try and get through to 28 days without a fag by taking it one day at a time.”

Stoptober is back for a fifth year, having driven almost a million quit attempts to date.  It starts on the 1st October and is based on research that by the time you have quit for 28 days you are 5 times more likely to stop for good.

For more information, search ‘Stoptober’ online and choose the package of support that will help you quit for good, including details of your local stop smoking services.