No Smoking Day is the ideal time for pharmacies to promote the health benefits of quitting and help customers stub out their last cigarette

Despite smoking rates more than halving since 1974, there are still 10 million smokers in the UK – that’s approximately a sixth of the total population. Each year, 100,000 smokers die from smoking-related causes and half of all regular smokers will eventually die from their addiction.

Encouragingly, the most recent research on smoking behaviour from the Office of National Statistics reveals that two-thirds of smokers want to stop. However, according to Action on Smoking and Health, no more than 40 per cent actually make a quit attempt in a given year.

Over half of the people who successfully quit smoking set the date they plan to stop and this is where No Smoking Day comes in. This annual campaign, run by the British Heart Foundation, provides a platform for pharmacies and other healthcare providers, such as national helplines, drop-in centres and GPs, to highlight the resources and local smoking cessation services available to smokers, and to support their customers and patients in successfully kicking the habit.

Making a change

Taking place this year on 9 March, the campaign’s theme, ‘Proud to be a Quitter’, hopes to inspire people to believe in their ability to quit and make the first tough step towards improving their health and potentially changing their lives. Emily Reeve, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, says: “People know smoking is bad for them, we don’t need to tell them again, but what we want to do is help people recognise that quitting really is an achievement to be proud of and for them to help others follow in their footsteps.”

This is the sixth year the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has been involved in the campaign, although the campaign itself has been running since 1983. Emily explains: “We redesign it every year because we recognise that everyone is different and will need different encouragement, support and techniques to quit successfully. But the campaign ultimately provides a supportive environment and highlights all the help available for people to quit.”

Pharmacies are being encouraged to hold their own No Smoking Day events in the run up to the day and on 9 March itself. Pharmacy staff can play an integral role in identifying smokers who may consider quitting, as well as raising awareness of the health benefits of stopping smoking to those customers.

“Smoking doubles the risk of heart disease and stroke and it’s also bad for the lining of the blood vessels and increases the risk of clotting,” explains Emily. “Quitting smoking really is the single best thing you can do for your heart health – as soon as you quit, the risk to heart health decreases significantly,” she adds. Pharmacy staff can also help quitters stock up on quit aids such as patches and other nicotine replacement therapy products, and offer tips and advice for persevering so they’re ready to make a quality quit attempt.

Once the day arrives, participants can be reassured that hundreds of thousands of people are embarking on the same journey as them. Last year saw 800,000 smokers take part in No Smoking Day and this year the BHF hopes to help 600,000. “The target goes down every year because the number of smokers is declining, which is a really good thing,” says Emily. It’s then all about supporting quitters through their whole journey and helping them resist the urge to fall back into old habits.

“We [the BHF] appreciate that the campaign will promote different types of quitting aids and techniques, but this year we really want to focus on craving,” says Emily. “This is what people tend to really struggle with, so we’re asking ‘what could you do instead?’ Could they replace that cigarette with something else like exercise or eating a piece of fruit? It’s really about distraction techniques and adjusting their routine so that the distraction becomes part of their normal daily routine rather than the cigarettes.”

Campaign success

The BHF highlights the fact that the success of No Smoking Day is built on the commitment of thousands of local organisers across the UK and each year, the charity thanks them with their Organiser of the Year competition. In 2015, Kasli Pharmacy in Nuneaton walked away with the Best Pharmacy Activity prize for its “enthusiasm, originality, and ultimately, its success in helping smokers quit.”

Kasli Pharmacy’s No Smoking Day activities included onsite promotion and recruitment for its stop smoking course, which particularly impressed the judges. During the 12-week course, Kasli Pharmacy’s stop smoking champions see the participants each week to provide advice and support and this has resulted in a high quit rate and great patient feedback. The pharmacy also focuses on helping pregnant women to stop smoking and works closely with schools by running classes to try to get children to understand the dangers of smoking and vaping.

Get involved

To get your pharmacy involved in this year’s No Smoking Day campaign and make a difference in your community, visit the No Smoking Day website and download resources or apply for a campaign pack, which includes posters, leaflets, event tips and ideas and templates for PR, to help you organise and promote your No Smoking Day event. You can also join the conversation on Twitter by following @NoSmokingDay and using the hashtag #NoSmokingDay.