Today is the day

North East Lincolnshire is supporting a new advertising campaign ‘Today is the Day’, which encourages smokers to seize the opportunity to quit today. Visit www.nhs.uk/smokefree for tools and information to make quitting a success.

The new campaign, launched by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) features a heartfelt plea from respiratory doctor Ruth Sharrock for smokers to quit today to protect themselves from smoking related diseases and increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death in North East Lincolnshire responsible for over 371 and every year a further 429 children take up smoking in North East Lincolnshire.

Councillor Margaret Cracknell, Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing said: “Smoking remains the biggest killer in North East Lincolnshire and we want to encourage all smokers to give quitting a go. Quitting smoking can rapidly reduce your risk of a range of life threatening illnesses and the Wellbeing Service has a dedicated stop-smoking team who can support you through your quit attempt with expert advice and medications to deal with cravings.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, 92,681 in the Yorkshire and Humber Region have quit smoking, according to new analysis by ASH and University College London.

Wayne Gould, Specialist Stop-Smoking Practitioner said: “The coronavirus pandemic has made us all conscious of the need to protect ourselves, our families and loved ones. If you smoke, now is the time to quit to keep yourself healthy and out of hospital. In my role I see the harms of smoking every day, but it’s never too late to quit and experience health benefits, even if you are already unwell. Quitting smoking is the best thing smokers can do to improve their health so I’m proud to be supporting the Today is the Day campaign.”

 Grimsby local, Michael Coxon smoked for 48 years before quitting and said it is the best thing he’s ever done.
He said: “I thought other people were able to give up smoking but no matter how hard I tried I wouldn’t be able to. Quitting smoking is the best thing I’ve ever done, and I’m surprised at how easy it was.”

However, a further 49,424 in the Yorkshire and Humber region have tried to quit but have been unsuccessful.  The campaign, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, will be directing smokers to effective forms of support to quit on the NHS Smokefree website.

Deborah Arnott Chief Executive of ASH said:

“Over 92,681 smokers have succeeded in stopping smoking in the Yorkshire and Humber Region since COVID-19 hit us, but that still leaves many thousands more smokers who have not. This campaign is designed to encourage those who’ve not yet succeeded, to wake up and decide today is the day to stop smoking.”