Praise for smoking ban as hospital admissions fall

NHS Swindon are praising the smoking ban after research showed a fall in the number of people suffering heart attacks, that were admitted to hospital.

The research was led by Dr Anna Gilmore, of the University of Bath. She analysed data collected on emergency hospital admissions for patients aged 18 or older from the period of July 2002 to September 2008. She compared the records for the five years before the smoking ban was introduced to the period after the legislation came into force.

The results found that NHS Swindon saved approximately £42,000 from not having to treat people for heart attacks, in the first 12 months after the smoke free laws were introduced.

These savings are on top of the savings made by NHS not having to treat someone for a smoking related illness, as well as being in addition to the money saved by the smokers themselves.

Smokefree South West director Fiona Andrews told the Swindon Advertiser: "This important research shows that real progress is being made in improving people's health by encouraging them to quit smoking.

"Quitting brings real benefits to people's lives, including those who live or work around smokers and also frees up more resources for the NHS across the south west" she said.

Last year more than 1,000 people in Swindon stopped smoking using the NHS Stop Smoking Service, but there are other methods often used by smokers when trying to quit.

Stop smoking hypnotherapy is an increasingly popular technique used by smokers wanting to kick their habit. Hypnotherapy is a method that uses no patches or gum and retrains both the conscious and unconscious mind of the person wishing to quit.