Health chiefs call for free e-cigarettes on the NHS

E-CIGARETTES should be prescribed on the NHS to help people quit smoking, health officials will say today.

The first official review of the health impact of ‘vaping’ says it is 9 per cent safer than smoking tobacco. At least 76,000 lives could be saved every year if all smokers switched to electronic cigarettes, according to Public Health England (PHE).

Pilot schemes in North East England and Leicester have already started recommending e-cigarettes to patients through council smoking cessation services.

But GPs will not be able to recommend them until they are properly licensed, unlike other

‘Game-changer in public health’

nicotine replacement therapies such as gum, lozenges and patches. Several firms have already submitted licence applications to the drugs regulator.

If t he applications are approved, PHE experts says they should be rolled out on the NHS as soon as possible.

The report admits that e-cigarettes are controversial, and some experts believe they act as a ‘gateway’ for teenagers who go on to smoke tobacco. But Professor Ann McNeill of King’s College London, an author of the review, said: ‘E-cigarettes could be a game-changer in public health.’

Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies said the devices are ‘not risk free’ and called for assurances on ‘safety and quality’.