Stoptober is back for 2016 to encourage smokers across England to make a quit attempt during October. Stoptober has driven almost 1 million quit attempts to date, with thousands more likely to take part this autumn, and this year there are plenty of ways for people and partners to get involved.
Smokers across the country are being urged to take part in Stoptober (the mass quitting challenge from Public Health England (PHE) starting on 1 October) and join nearly 15 million people who have already quit.
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% 6 years ago.
This increase in successful stop smoking attempts reflects the high number of people using quitting aids. 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. In addition, over 350,000 people used their local stop smoking service in 2015 to 2016. The number of cigarettes sold in England and Wales has dropped by 20% in the last 2 years.
Local smokers are being encouraged to give up cigarettes for 28 days next month for the fifth annual Stoptober campaign.
Public Health England figures show smoking rates are still high in the Oldham area, the percentages of adult smokers in the borough is 22%.
