Smoking cessation

70% of smokers in Scotland want to quit yet until recently there were few effective support services in place to help them. The White Paper on tobacco, Smoking Kills, outlined a national smoking cessation policy for Scotland, providing local services and the provision of stop smoking aids such as Zyban and Nicotine Replacement Therapy. The NHS in Scotland spends an estimated £140 million on hospital treatment for diseases caused by smoking. Helping smokers to quit is a highly cost effective public health measure. ASH Scotland believes all proven treatments which help smokers to quit should be freely available on the NHS in Scotland.

• A Smoking Cessation Policy for Scotland
• Smoking Cesssation Guidelines for Scotland - updated May 2007
• Smoking Cessation Guidelines for Scotland - updated in November 2004
• Recommendations for the future development of Scottish smoking cessation services: data collection, monitoring & evaluating, information management and essential resources
• National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Public Health Programme Guidance (NHS UK)
  Smoking cessation services in primary care, pharmacies, local authorities and workplaces, particularly for manual working groups, pregnant women and hard to reach communities (February 2008)
• Report of recommendations for the future development of Scottish smoking cessation services: frequently asked questions
• Standards for smoking cessation training in Scotland
• Strategy for smoking cessation training in Scotland
• Algorithm, a quick guide to the stepped care approach to smoking cessation, designed for use by health professionals during brief consultations with smokers.
• Aspire, a magazine full of information and encouragement for smokers interested in quitting.
• Zyban
• NRT Factsheet
• ASH Scotland's Submission to Scottish Executive's Health Department Consultation on Nicotine Replacement Therapies
• ASH Scotland's submission to proposed amendments to the General Sale List Order 1984 - Nicotine Replacement Therapy

The UK White Paper on tobacco, Smoking Kills, has a section on cessation.