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Support to Stop Smoking
Approximately 114,000 smokers die in the UK every year as a result of their habit.
Smoking kills around five times more people in the UK than road traffic accidents (3,439), other accidents (8,579), poisoning and overdose (3157), murder and manslaughter (513), suicide (4,066), and HIV infection (234) all put together (22,833 in total - 2002 figures).
The single most important thing you can do for your current and future health is to STOP SMOKING.
The minute smoking stops the benefits begin. Benefits to stopping start within 20 minutes and over the next few weeks you will experience positive signs of recovery:
Stop Smoking Time-Line
| 20 Mins | Blood pressure goes down |
| 1 Hour | Circulation improves, hands and feet feel warmer |
| 8 Hours | Oxygen in your blood returns to normal so your heart rate drops |
| 1 Day | Lungs begin to work better |
| 2 Days | Taste and smell improve |
| 3 Days | Energy levels increase and breathing becomes easier |
| 2 Weeks | Any withdrawal you may have experienced starts to lessen within 2-6 weeks of stopping |
| 6-12 Months | Over the next 6-12 months the risk of heart attack, cancer and other smoking related illnesses begin to fall |
How can the Support to Stop Smoking Service help?
Chew Medical Practice and Bath & North East Somerset Primary Care Trust run the Support to Stop Smoking Service, which is a free NHS Service that offers help, advice and support to smokers who want to quit.
The service can help you to:
- Get support while you quit
- Make a personal plan to stop smoking
- Set a quit date
- Find ways to cope with cravings
- Stay stopped
Did you Know ...
That a cigarette not only contains nicotine but substances such as tar, carbon monoxide, Acetone, Ammonia, Arsenic, Formaldehyde, Cadmium, Benzene and Cyanide.
For further information on the Support to Stop Smoking Service, please contact the surgery on 01275 332420 or B&NES PCT on 01225 831852 or email:
public.health@banes-pct.nhs.uk Please ask at reception for details
and an appointment.
Anne Yeates Health Care Assistant
and the nurses are smoking cessation
advisors, and they can support you
during your attempt to stop smoking
Stopping smoking is the most
important measure of all in
maintaining good health.
They are able to advise on
appropriate forms of nicotine
replacement therapies, including the
use of patches, gum and the more
recently available medication
champix. This is then available from
the practice.
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