NHS spending on aids to stop smoking drops by up to 75pc

THE NHS is “giving up on smokers” as more addicts are left to quit by themselves, figures show.

Prescriptions for stop-smoking aids like nicotine patches and gum have fallen by 75 per cent in a decade, and some clinical commissioning groups (CCGS) have advised doctors to cease prescribing aids completely.

The British Lung Foundation (BLF), which carried out the research, said smokers are being discriminated against due to cuts in NHS spending.

It warned the policy was counterproductive and “foolhardy”, arguing that health officials were creating a larger, more expensive problem for the future by not helping smokers avert chronic and costly illnesses.

The research found there was a 75 per cent decline in the number of stop-smoking aids dispensed in England in 2016-17, compared with 2005-6.

In Scotland the fall was 40per cent while in Wales the 2016-17 figure was one third of the number in 2007-8.

Regional variation was found to be significant. Worcestershire had fully decommissioned stop-smoking services in April 2016, and neighbouring CCGS then advised no prescriptions for the aids should be written for new patients.

In York, the research found GPS had been asked to not prescribe due to cost.

Alison Cook, the director of policy at BLF, said: “Decommissioning the prescribing of stop-smoking aids will only achieve short-term savings. The decisions are foolhardy and must be reversed.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said its Tobacco Control Plan would give councils £16billion to provide public health services.