Smoking challenge for experts

Thousands of Scots give up smoking each year

Health experts have gathered for a conference in Scotland to discuss how best to help smokers kick the habit.

The issue of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) will top the agenda during the brain-storming session in Glasgow.

NRT in Your Patch - Evidence-Based Policy for Scotland, will bring together 200 delegates to discuss the latest research.

Some of the UK's leading experts on stopping smoking will attend the event, organised by the Scottish Tobacco Control Alliance.

Scotland has 1.4 million adult smokers and the overwhelming majority of them want to stop

Beth Loots
STCA

Across Scotland, it is estimated about 13,000 people die every year from illnesses directly linked to smoking.

The same number of smokers manage to successfully give the habit the flick each year, and the conference will explore how best to give support to those who want to give up.

Delegates will include doctors, researchers, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and smoking cessation specialists.

The Health Technology Board for Scotland is currently considering whether to adopt the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) guidance on NRT and the drug Zyban for Scotland.

Nice recommends that all smokers who want to quit should be prescribed NRT or Zyban, and given appropriate support.

The conference will discuss support methods

STCA co-ordinator, Beth Loots, said the conference was an important step in shaping support for smokers who wanted to kick the habit.

"Scotland has 1.4 million adult smokers and the overwhelming majority of them want to stop," she said.

"This conference is designed to bring together practitioners from throughout Scotland to discuss how NRT can be used most effectively to increase quit rates.

'Wonder drug'

"This is an important time for stop-smoking services, with a new ruling expected, and new money available to support the seven in 10 smokers who want to stop."

Zyban acts on the brain to quash the craving nicotine tobacco products produce and was hailed as a "wonder-drug" when it was launched in the UK two years ago.

But there have since been concerns about its side effects.

The Medicines Control Agency has received reports of 58 deaths after suspected adverse reactions to Zyban, though the MCA said the link between the drug and the deaths was unproven.

Nice said it will monitor the situation.

The conference is being held at the Lighthouse Trust in Glasgow.