Nearly 6 in 10 North East ex-smokers who quit in the past 5 years did so using a vape
North East tobacco control programme is calling on the government to reintroduce new Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
New figures show that over half of people who stopped smoking in the last five years used a vape to quit.
They found that in the North East nearly 6 in 10 people who are ex-smokers and have quit in the past 5 years did so using a vape.
The research from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and supported by Fresh found that vapes have been the most popular quitting aid among those who have successfully stopped smoking in the last 5 years.
Their latest survey found:
• Among all those who stopped smoking in the last five years, just over half report they used a vape to quit equating to 2.7 million people. Of those a third have also stopped vaping and the average duration of their vaping was a year.
• Overall 5.6 million adults currently vape, 53% who have stopped smoking, 39% are still smoking and 8% have never smoked.
There is now well established evidence that vaping is an effective aid to quitting smoking and less harmful than smoking but this new data also shows the scale of quitting linked to smoking in recent years.
Fresh with partners nationally and regionally are calling for a new Tobacco and Vapes Bill to be reintroduced urgently in order to raise the age of sale of toxic tobacco and reduce teenage vaping while ensuring vapes can still be used as an aid for people to quit smoking.
Ailsa Rutter OBE Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Tobacco smoking is devastating to people’s health – it is a toxic product which kills 2 in 3 long-term smokers.
“It is vital we give smokers today every chance to quit and switch away from the biggest cause of cancer and preventable disease – this is part of creating a smokefree future for the UK while doing what we can to reduce the appeal of vaping to children.”
Respiratory consultant Dr Ruth Sharrock treats patients with lung disease every day and is also clinical lead for tobacco dependency for North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care System. She says in her line of work treating people with years of smoking-related harm, vaping has become an increasingly important tool to support smokers to quit.
She said: “In the North East we have been able to use vapes as an invaluable part of the strategy to help smokers to quit smoking. They are the most common quitting aid chosen by both hospital patients and staff members who are dependent on tobacco. These are very often people who have often given up hope of ever stopping.
“Switching to a vastly safer form of nicotine, without the thousands of chemicals in burned tobacco, feels like a really positive step for them. One patient described their Swap to Stop vape as a being 'like a free upgrade' rather than the 'punishment' of asking them to try to quit smoking. I hope better awareness of the benefits they can bring to people who currently smoke, enables many more people to try them.”
Kerry Apedaile, is Specialist Tobacco Dependence Service Lead at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, and said: “We find that vapes are a really important tool to help us support people who are admitted to our hospitals, where they cannot smoke.
“Many of our patients don’t want to use nicotine replacement therapy like patches, gum, or inhalators, but are much more open to using a vape to temporarily stop smoking during their hospital stay. Vapes help people to feel more in control of their nicotine withdrawal. The fact that a vape occupies your hands also allows people to continue the hand to mouth habitual behaviour they had with smoking, but without most of the toxic chemicals. We do risk assess all patients before offering vapes as a nicotine replacement option.
“Patients with serious mental health conditions are often the forgotten group when it comes to helping people quit smoking. Even though the number of smokers in the general population has fallen significantly, smoking levels among people with serious mental health problems have remained relatively steady.
“Vaping offers a much better chance for our patients to finally quit smoking successfully, so it’s important that vapes are accessible to patients within mental health settings. I’ve seen first-hand the difference it can make, helping people who have smoked for decades to quit.”
John Stephenson, 49, is Stop Smoking Manager for South Tees. A former smoker himself, he quit smoking after a massive heart attack and quit using a vape after several previous unsuccessful quit attempts.
He said: “I had three grandchildren at the time, and I knew I needed to be around for my family. I know now I was in denial about the impact that smoking had on my health.
“I have now been smokefree 18 months and the difference is incredible. I vaped to quit and it means I can just pull the drawer out if I get stressed and have a vape rather than a cigarette. If you just have one cigarette then that means you’re a smoker again – having one is the worst thing you can do because it is never just one.
“My health has improved beyond my dreams, and I’ve saved a fortune. For me having a flavour for vapes helped me move much further away from smoking as well. If you quit you don’t want to be reminded of tobacco.”
The survey also found a growing group of ex-smokers vaping longer term with half vaping for more than 3 years.
Since 2021 there has also been an increase in the numbers of never smokers vaping with an estimated 8% of vapers reporting they have never smoked, around 440k people.
While for some of these long-term ex-smokers and never smokers vaping may be helping them to avoid going back or starting to smoke, the charity also says we should not be complacent about this use.