The UK national 'Swap 2 Stop' programme continues to spread across the country. The plan is to offer free e-cigs to one million smokers through community stop-smoking centres. In the three-city area of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in southern England, several thousand people were smoke-free four weeks into the programme.
"Swap 2 Stop" is a unique national initiative where almost a fifth of smokers in England will receive a vejpkit to help them quit smoking. In the county of Dorset, comprising Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in the south of England, 14,801 starter kits have been distributed since the programme was launched last year. Now, local media report that it has been a great success so far. Of those who took part in the programme, 3,562 people were smoke-free after four weeks, according to the local Daily Echo newspaper.
Helping thousands
In the area, the programme is run by Public Health Dorset and aims to get more people to quit smoking by replacing cigarettes with e-cigarettes.
"We are delighted that our 'Swap 2 Stop' initiative has been able to help thousands of people quit smoking and improve their health across Dorset - Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole," Rachel Partridge, Acting Director of Public Health Dorset told the Daily Echo.
Initiatives launched in 2023
'Swap 2 stop' is part of the UK government's ambition to become smoke-free by 2030 - reducing smoking levels to five per cent or less among residents. The initiative started in 2023 when the UK government launched the comprehensive programme in partnership with the London Tobacco Alliance, an advocacy group that originally worked to make London smoke-free.
12 weeks of support
In Dorset, Rachel Partridge emphasises how difficult it can be to break the tobacco addiction and encourages more people who want to quit to seek support. Public Health Dorset also points out that vejping is safer than smoking, but not without risk. People who want to quit smoking can also get up to 12 weeks of support from their GP or pharmacist through the LiveWell Dorset health programme.
'Swap 2 stop' will initially run for two years nationally, coordinated with local stop smoking centres, as in Dorset. Latest figures from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) show that more than half of ex-smokers in the UK who quit in the last five years did so with the help of e-cigarettes. This equates to around 2.7 million ex-smokers.
