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The Department of Health published a new tobacco control strategy on 1 February 2010, which focuses on the following three themes:

• To stop the inflow of young people recruited as smokers.

• To motivate and assist every smoker to quit.

• To protect families and communities from tobacco related harm.

Smoking remains the main cause of preventable morbidity and premature death in England, leading to more than 80,000 deaths a year attributed to smoking.

For NHS North Yorkshire and York it is estimated at 1,288 deaths per year. (APHO Health Profiles 2009/ONS).

There are very few healthcare professionals who do not treat conditions caused by or exacerbated by smoking. Helping these patients to stop smoking is often the most effective and cost-effective of all the interventions that they receive.

• All smokers should be advised to stop smoking and offered evidence-based support, regardless of whether they express a desire to stop.

• Evidence-based NHS support to stop smoking is highly cost effective and clinically effective and should always be offered to people who express an interest in stopping.

• Service users should be given a menu of options along with their typical efficacy rates, enabling them to make informed choices.

Short term benefits seen in the first month of stopping smoking

Please see the Smoking Cessation, Smoking in Pregnancy or Stopping Smoking Before An Operation factsheets for more information.