WITH October now upon us, Devon’s smokers are being offered support to quit the habit as the biggest national stop smoking campaign of the year gets underway. 

The OneSmallStephealthy lifestyle service, commissioned by Devon County Council, is supporting the national stop smoking campaign – Stoptober –  to encourage and inspire people to put smoking behind them this October.

Stoptober – the 28-day stop smoking challenge from Public Health England – is back for the sixth time and it’s bigger than ever.

Victoria Banks, stop smoking adviser from OneSmallStep said: ‘Quitting tobacco is the single most important thing you can do to improve your health, but it’s easier said than done, so Devon County Council and OneSmallStep are working together to support people in Devon to make this change during Stoptober.’

Year-on-year thousands of people attempt to quit smoking during the month of October. Stoptober is based on research that shows that if you can stop smoking for 28-days, you are five times more likely to stay smokefree for good.

There is a range of free support to help people on their quitting journey including an app, daily emails, Facebook Messenger and lots of encouragement from the Stoptober online community onFacebook.

Expert face-to-face advice will be available from local stop smoking services provided by OneSmallStep, the free health and wellbeing service.  Evidence shows people are four times more likely to quit smoking with behavioural support and nicotine replacement therapy from their local stop smoking service.

Last year over half (53%) of those taking part in Stoptober opted to use an e-cigarette. In Devon, stop smoking services are e-cigarette friendly, meaning that anyone who decides to try vaping to support their attempts to quit can still receive support from a trained adviser at OneSmallStep.

Local smoking facts: Smoking prevalence in adults (current smokers): 12.6%. In 2016-17, 43.4% of quit attempts were successful within all our smoking cessation services in Devon. In 2015-16, 5,087 smokers set a quit date to stop smoking. There were 2,423 successful quitters at 4 weeks, in 2015/16. The cost per quitter in 2015-16 is valued at £474.

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: ‘Stoptober has now become a very well established and successful campaign, where every year thousands of smokers successfully quit for good.

‘Smoking among adults in Devon is now at an all-time low, and around seven in eight adults in Devon are now smokefree, which is excellent.  And last year almost half of the quit attempts in Devon were successful when used in conjunction with our stop smoking services, so I’d encourage anyone who is thinking about quitting to speak to their local pharmacist or GP, or to log on to our onesmallstep website.’

Lyn Andrews, who successfully quit through the service, said: ‘OneSmallStep is brilliant. I was able to give up smoking without having to attend appointments to see anyone, and as I am really busy working shifts this was a big bonus for me. I had phone calls and texts when it was convenient for me and if I struggled I could call and speak with my coach.

‘I have so much more energy now I’ve given up, I’m able to get up in the morning without feeling like I have done a six mile walk in my sleep, my breath is fresher and my teeth no longer stained yellow.’

The campaign will be running throughout October with messages on social media.

Find more information and support visit OneSmallStep web pages; follow @stephealthy on Twitter or follow the hashtag #OSSStoptober on social media.