HALF of smokers who wanted to kick the habit returned to smoking within four weeks despite getting help to stub out their cigarettes.

The Wiltshire Stop Smoking Service helped 1,905 smokers to quit between April 2017 to March 2018, with 51 per cent of people managing to break the habit for longer than a month.

In a bid to make a generation of young people smoke free, the Wiltshire Smokefree Alliance was set up in April 2018.

Across the county 14 per cent of adults smoke, compared to a national average of 14.9 per cent. The alliance hopes to decrease the number of smokers to just 12 per cent by 2022 in line with government targets. Supporting Stoptober, chair of the alliance cllr Jerry Wickham, said: “Smoking inevitably increases the risk of getting a number of serious health issues. If you want to make a real go of quitting smoking, a strong support network is key. With all its resources and expert advice, Stoptober is the perfect opportunity to quit for good."

The alliance aspires to achieve the aims set out in the Government’s 2017 Tobacco Control Plan for England by the end of 2022 to reduce adult smoking prevalence to 12% and smoking in pregnancy to 6%. The alliance is made up of multiple partners including public health, NHS organisations (primary and secondary care) and a range of other health and social care services, police, fire and military.

It is chaired by Wiltshire Council cabinet member for public health, Jerry Wickham. The alliance supports the aims of the Wiltshire health and wellbeing board strategy to encourage Wiltshire residents to live long, happy and healthier lives through being smoke-free.

For more information, and a rundown of the resources available, people should visit https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/be-healthier/quit-smoking/stoptober/

The Wiltshire Stop Smoking Service offers support in most GP Practices, participating pharmacies and via the Health Trainer Service