Medical Specialists® inundated with requests for smoking cessation treatment in the run up to No Smoking Day

Medical Specialists® Pharmacy are proud to support this year’s national No Smoking Day, which will be taking place on 11 March.

For those not aware of its origins, No Smoking Day is an annual campaign that has been running since Ash Wednesday in 1983, when it was known as ‘Quit for the Day’, although despite the name, it is obvious this one day is intended to be a sampler / springboard for a longer-term and more permanent quitting of smoking.

The campaign was initially led by a charity bearing the same name that operated in London with only four full-time staff, until it was then merged with the British Heart Foundation in 2011. The funds are provided by coalition of governmental and voluntary sector organisations looking to improve the nation’s health.

Each year there are an estimated one million smokers that use No Smoking Day to try and stop smoking. The No Smoking Day charity has previously claimed that about 1.5 million smokers have successfully managed to quit for good since its launch 32 years ago.

After experiencing a recent surge in the requests for smoking cessation treatment Champix, Medical Specialists® believe that this year, there could be potentially significantly more than just one million people trying to give up the cigarettes in Britain.

What the campaign doesn’t do is attempt to harass or force smokers into immediately stopping for good – the day is primarily for those smokers that want to quit, in addition to providing support prior to and after No Smoking Day, with the British Heart Foundation website offering information on national helplines, local stop smoking services and the chance to join a support forum.

The forum is an excellent way to get in touch with thousands of other fellow smokers looking to quit and lets people know they are not alone in their efforts to stub out. The forum is even moderated by ex-smokers that have successfully given up themselves.

As the name of the charity would suggest, the British Heart Foundation use their knowledge and resources to boost the public’s heart health, and provide information on the damage smoking does to the body, even detailing some of the toxic chemicals that smokers inhale with each passing cigarette – it certainly makes for grim reading.

The fact remains that smokers are at double the risk of suffering from a heart attack compared to people that have never smoked and smoking is the main cause of a multitude of cancers and lung disease.

Even with these health risks, some people still refuse to stop smoking. This could explain why last year the British Heart Foundation chose to reach out to smokers in other ways – namely highlighting the financial benefits of stopping smoking.

With the current financial climate, it is simply unfeasible to be regularly forking out £10 for a packet of cigarettes and skimp on food or even withhold paying bills.

The British Heart Foundation have even detailed what people could treat themselves to with the money saved from not buying cigarettes*.

For example, after…

1 Day – £8.50: two movie rentals / a new lipstick / download a new album
1 week – £59.50: a family cinema trip/ a pair of shoes / a meal for two
1 month – £255: a shopping spree / Premiership football tickets / a weekend break
3 months – £765
6 months – £1,530: a leather suite/ a home cinema / a top of the range bicycle
1 year – £3,102.50: a new kitchen / designer jewellery / holiday of a lifetime

*Figures based on a 20-a-day smoker paying £8.50 per packet of 20 cigarettes.

And if that wasn’t music to the ears of smokers, by quitting smoking they will earn extra pocket money on top of that already saved! Ex-smokers may now suddenly discover that life, home and car insurance are cheaper due to then being a non-smoker.

Medical Specialists® wish all smokers the best of luck for next weeks No Smoking Day. There is plenty of help at hand, from the British Heart Foundation’s ‘I want to quit’ page, their links to a forum and various nationwide stop smoking services, to smoking cessation treatment from Medical Specialists® like Champix, for a more longer term quitting strategy. This treatment can be obtained by an online consultation with one of our GMC-registered doctors, or by sending us a private prescription.

No Smoking Day arrives as financial rewards are considered for quitters

No Smoking Day is upon us today as millions of smokers in Britain and indeed around the rest of the world are encouraged to at least give up cigarettes for this one day to help prepare them to give them up for good in the near future. Basically, if you can successfully do it for this one day, you should see you are able to do it everyday eventually!

In the three decades following the introduction of No Smoking Day in 1983, the proportion of UK adult smokers has fell from a third to a fifth, but the fact remains that there are still a staggering ten million smokers in the country and 100,000 of them will lose their lives each year as a result of this dangerous habit, such as from heart or circulatory diseases.

Although an estimated one in five UK adults smoke, studies have previously indicated that around two thirds of them would like to quit smoking. Therefore, today’s No Smoking Day is the perfect time to start.

This year’s No Smoking Day has been given a ‘V for Victory’ theme to it, hopefully helping hundreds of thousands of smokers to win the fight against cigarettes and it has now become one of the UK’s biggest annual health awareness campaigns.

However, could bribing smokers to quit be the answer? The findings of a new study indicated that smokers were more likely to quit when there were financial rewards to be gained from it – even as little as just £3 was found to be effective.

Researchers at Newcastle University assessed the results of 16 projects where people were urged to stop smoking, lose weight, go for vaccinations, or attend cancer screening appointments and were then awarded money, vouchers, lottery tickets or other financial incentives to improve their ways.
The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, states that the smokers these schemes were more than twice as likely to stop smoking for six months compared to people merely given advice on how best to quit.

Collating the results from all the schemes, the researchers came to the conclusion that financial incentives managed to raise the chance of behaviour improving by an impressive 62% and interestingly it was found higher amounts of money on offer were not much more effective than smaller ones.

Interestingly, the risk of being penalised financially also worked as a motivator, but it was found that people tend to change for the worse once the incentives are pulled.

The researchers argue there are those who will no doubt eventually return to their previous ways regardless of which method they have undertaken in order to quit smoking, lose weight, or other ways of improving their health.

Researcher Dr Jean Adams described such schemes as providing ‘rewards’ rather than ‘bribes’ and though the 16 projects they looked at were given in the US, similar financial motivations for patients may save the NHS a lot of money in the long-term.

Dr Adams said: “We try all kinds of techniques to help people quit smoking or otherwise live healthy lives, so why not try this? It is about nudging people to healthier behaviours. There is a chance this could save the taxpayer money in the long-run.”

Smokers encouraged to quit for No Smoking Day on 12 March

Medical Specialists Pharmacy is proudly supporting the next annual No Smoking Day, which will be taking place on 12 March 2014. Whether it is for this yearly awareness day, month-long campaigns such as ‘Stoptober’, for a New Year’s Resolution, or any other particular occasion, basically there is always a good reason to quit smoking today, not way in the future.

No Smoking Day is being pioneered by the British Heart Foundation, who understand not everybody can go ‘cold turkey’ and suddenly quit smoking for good instantly, but they are encouraging smokers to quit at least just for this one day to prove to themselves they can do it. It is hoped this one day smoke free will increase their motivation to quit for good in the long-run; this can be achieved with the help of smoking cessation medication such as Champix.

Now is the perfect time to quit as Medical Specialists Pharmacy have just drastically reduced the price of Champix to its lowest ever price! Prices have been reduced by as much as a whopping 50%. For instance, an online consultation for the Champix starter pack was £75, but this has now come down to just £38.95! For those already with a private prescription, the price is even lower, at a mere £27.48.

Everyone may have their own personal reasons for wanting to give up smoking. In the current financial climate, paying almost £10 for a packet of cigarettes is simply not feasible, with food and bills obviously much more important. For others, quitting could be part of a much wider plan to become healthier and include increasing exercise, eating better, etc.

A packet of 20 cigarettes can set you back around £7-£8, so the average 20-a-day smoker could suddenly have an extra £56 in their pocket each week. Wondering what to spend all that extra cash on? If you are spending £7 each day on your smoking habit, here’s what else you could be spending your money on:

1 day (£7): Two movie rentals or a new lipstick.
1 week (£49): A family cinema trip or a meal for two.
1 month (£210): A shopping spree or premiership football tickets.
3 months (£630): A new laptop or the latest flat screen TV.
6 months (£1,260): A leather suite or a home cinema.
1 year (£2,555): A new kitchen or a holiday of a lifetime.

If all that wasn’t music to your ears, you will feel extra money in your pocket in other ways. You will now suddenly find that life, home and car insurance will now be cheaper because you are a non-smoker.

It is worth remembering that you and everybody around you will reap the massive benefits from you stopping smoking. Your friends and family will no longer be inhaling second-hand smoke and having their health badly impacted too and for you personally, this is what you can look forward to in the forthcoming 12 months after stopping smoking:

20 minutes

Your heart rate and blood pressure return to a normal level.

8 hours

Oxygen levels return to normal as the nicotine and carbon monoxide begin to leave your body.

24 hours

Mucus and other smoking debris is cleared from the lungs.

48 hours

Nicotine should have been removed from your body by this stage and your sense of smell and taste are boosted.

2 – 12 weeks

Breathing improves and you find exercising is easier.

3 – 9 months

Any coughs, wheezing and breathing problems are reduced as your lungs repair.

1 year

You now have half the risk of coronary heart disease than that of a smoker.

If you want to get involved with No Smoking Day you can visit here or here to download the huge and informative campaign handbook which has details about the history of the day, what is included in the ‘V for Victory’ kit and advice for schools, employers and much more. On the downloads page of the British Heart Foundation website you can even see the smoking percentage statistics for your specific town and compare this against other regions within the United Kingdom.

Millions of smokers urged to quit for No Smoking Day

An event that ‘unofficially’ first began thirty years ago is still going strong today as national No Smoking Day is upon us, with an estimated 750,000 smokers using the day as a springboard to a much healthier, tobacco-free future.  No Smoking Day is being supported by the UK charity WeQuit and the British Heart Foundation.

‘Don’t Smoke Day’, as it was first referred to back in 1983 by media, was the brainchild of a retired hospital administrator named Tom Hurst who penned a letter to the Minister for Health, requesting such a day. Hurst was fully aware of the potentially-fatal effects of smoking and believed it was necessary for parliament to implement a day that raised awareness of the issue.

Unfortunately for Hurst, the reply he received back was less than encouraging; “The Minister feels he is unable to support campaigns which might mislead the public into assuming that a causal relationship between tobacco smoking and cancer had been definitely proved.”

Of course, the Minister’s replied has been shown to be nonsense in the subsequent thirty years and it seems that more studies emerge on a daily basis that clearly demonstrate  how dangerous smoking is, being linked to many terminal cancers in addition to other serious health conditions such as multi-generational asthma, sudden cardiac death, osteoporosis and many more.

Realising that many smokers are still ignorant to the damage they are doing to their bodies and turning a blind eye to it, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) have taken advantage of the yearly format to alternate the theme of the day, instead focusing on where else cigarettes can impact smokers – their pockets.

Therefore, those who want to quit smoking are being encouraged to ‘Swap Fags for Swag’. The BHF have even listed the staggering amount of money that can be saved over the duration of a year by giving up, in addition to other more appealing things that the cash can be spent on.
They say the financial gains of stopping smoking are:

1 day (£7): Two movie rentals or a new lipstick.
1 week (£49): A family cinema trip or a meal for two.
1 month (£210): A shopping spree or premiership football tickets.
3 months (£630): A new laptop or the latest flat screen TV.
6 months (£1,260): A leather suite or a home cinema.
1 year (£2,555): A new kitchen or a holiday of a lifetime.

A main reason why the British Heart Foundation are involved in No Smoking Day is because smoking doubles a person’s risk of heart attack and a report they have recently conducted has found that an incredible 82% of smokers have at some point attempted to kick the habit and not succeeded.
In total, 2010 smokers were surveyed and over one in ten commented they were ‘desperate’ to stop smoking. Moreover, 40% had tried to quit between four and 21 times.

Dr Mike Knapton, Associate Medical Director for the BHF, said: “Every year more than 100,000 smokers die because of their addiction. This addiction can be incredibly hard to break and we hear time and again of smokers who are absolutely desperate to quit, they just don’t know where to start. The report reveals that a quarter of smokers are more motivated to give up for financial reasons rather than to benefit their health. The downward trend in smoking rates has plateaued in recent years, proving we need to renew our efforts to help our ‘final fifth’ quit. Often these are long-term smokers, or people surrounded by family, friends and colleagues who smoke. They’re harder to reach, and they’ll probably find it hard to quit. That’s why we all need to reinvigorate our efforts to help smokers and UK governments are part of the mix. We need investment in local stop smoking services and measures such as standardised packaging to help protect our children from the fatal addiction so many people are currently battling with.”

Medical Specialists Pharmacy is able to help you quit smoking with the aid of the smoking cessation medication Champix, meaning you will both protect your health and save huge amounts of money in the future as the government continually raise tobacco prices.

Champix mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment. The medication equates to just £75.00 per pack – inexpensive in comparison to the approximate £2,555 you can save by quitting smoking!