This week, new official statistics have been released and show that there are 6.1 million smokers in England. This means that the England smoking prevalence has dropped to below 15% for the first time since records began. The new findings were published by Public Health England (PHE) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The smoking rate in England was at 19.3% 5 years ago and the current rate now sits at 14.9%. Since 2014 an incredible 1 million smokers have quit smoking.
Encouragingly, the smoking prevalence among 18 to 24 years has declined at the quickest rate. 25-34 year olds make up the largest proportion with 1.4 million smokers in this age bracket, however this figure is declining.
Many experts believe that vaping is a key contributor to the impressive decline of smoking rates both in England and internationally. According to the report, 2 million vapers have now given up smoking, 777,000 of which have also now given up vaping.
This shows that 51% of the 2.5 million current vapers in England have now quit smoking. A further 600,000 are vaping as a means to quit smoking.
The report also states that “vaping is far from being a youth phenomenon as feared by many”. The figures show that the most popular age for vapers in England is between 25 and 34. That’s 7.8% of people within this age range which is closely followed by 7.5% of 35 to 49 year olds.
The uptake of vaping for non-smokers is also covered. “Almost 1 in 8 ex-smokers vape compared with less than half a percent of those who have never smoked.”
These results are certainly encouraging however there are still 6.1 million smokers in England, 60% of which reportedly intend to quit. That means there are over 3.5 million people in England want to give up smoking.
What more can be done?
The report suggests the following actions:
“Last year’s tobacco control plan laid out the Government’s ambitions and the steps we’ll be taking to achieve a smokefree nation. But we know this requires a concerted effort to reach some of society’s most vulnerable people. We will only achieve our ambitions if we make more progress in helping people from deprived areas and people suffering from poor mental health. Let’s take the support to where these people are – coming through hospital doors on a daily basis.”
However, there is no mention of vaping with regards to these initiatives. The Royal College of Physicians recently suggested vaping should be allowed on NHS sites throughout the UK. Furthermore, experts have suggested vaping could be utilised to help reduce smoking rates of mental health patients. While some hospitals and mental health trusts have become much more vape friendly many still make it difficult to vape on their premises.
Is a firm evidence-based vaping policy needed to cover all NHS sites and to allow vaping to reach its full potential as a quitting aid?