Public Health Scotland has published the annual statistics from NHS smoking cessation services in Scotland for the period between April 2019 and March 2020.
The national smoking cessation database was established in July 2005 to monitor the data on individuals presenting to NHS services for assistance in quitting smoking.
Key findings from the report are as follows:
- In the financial year 2019-2020, the number of attempts to quit smoking with the aid of NHS smoking cessation services dropped by 4.6 per cent from the financial year 2018-2019 and by 59.8 per cent from the financial year 2011-2012.
- The decline could be attributable to several factors, including the use of electronic cigarettes and reduced smoking prevalence.
- In 2019-2020, 38.2 per cent of individuals who made a quit attempt said they were still not smoking at four weeks. This figure dropped to 23.6 per cent at 12 weeks.
- Of those who reported not smoking at four weeks, 58.0 per cent were validated as not smoking using carbon monoxide testing, 2.3 per cent were found to be smoking and 39.7 per cent did not undergo carbon monoxide testing or their results were unknown.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected the delivery of NHS Stop Smoking Services to some extent, there should not be a large effect on the figures reported for the entire financial year.
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