Smokers offered help to stub out the killer habit
Council offers help and support to help quit
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Hounslow Council is supporting a campaign targeted at smokers who want to stop the potentially-fatal habit as a New Year’s Resolution.
Helping people who want to stop smoking get access to the help and support they need is an objective of “The Hounslow Plan”, the Council’s four-year vision of improvement. (2006-10)
For those who want to stop smoking, Hounslow Primary Care Trust runs a series of programmes at venues across the borough to suit a person’s lifestyle and preferences.
The six week, free-of-charge courses, in individual and group settings, look at every aspect of smoking cessation including coping with cravings, advice on replacement medication, and how to stay stopped.
Cllr Pamela Fisher, executive member for adult social services and health, said “As a local authority, we want to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking and assure people who want to quit that support services are available to them. The Hounslow Stop Smoking Service offers a free, six week course to help people make the change from being a smoker to a non-smoker. Following that, ongoing support is available, you are never alone.”
The average British smoker is 'hooked' on more than 5,000 cigarettes a year, according to a hard-hitting Government campaign airing now.
The HOOK campaign adverts on television, outdoor billboards and online were first broadcast on January 1 and show smokers being violently seized by a fish-hook as they are dragged to their traditional smoking spots. The ads highlight how addictive cigarettes are and that while smokers often think their smoking is just a habit which they can control, the habit is actually controlling them.
The nicotine in cigarettes is a powerful and fast-acting drug which after entering a smoker's bloodstream, affects their brain seven to 10 seconds later. It produces a nicotine 'rush' which many smokers interpret as pleasure, but in reality is simply the relief of satisfying a craving for nicotine.
The Department of Health says this campaign aims to motivate smokers to stop smoking and to encourage them to access the range of free NHS support available to help them get unhooked.
Smoking in enclosed public places will be banned in England from July 1. The ban covers virtually all enclosed public places including offices, factories, pubs and bars, but not outdoors or in private homes. It follows similar bans in the Irish Republic and Scotland - a ban in Wales starts on 2 April.
January 5, 2007