Events for Stoptober, the NHS Better Health campaign to help people stop smoking, started today in Richmond Borough.
Stoptober is a campaign where people sign up to stop smoking during October and has been running since 2012 across the UK.
Those who stop for 28 days are five times more likely to quit for good.
Richmond Stop Smoking Service were at Teddington Tesco with the community health bus to offer support today and will be running more events throughout the month.
Richmond Stop Smoking team smoking cessation advisor Anna-Marie Carvell-Hall said: “I lost my dad to a heart attack at 59 and he was a life-long smoker.
“When I saw I could help people as a job, I knew it was what I wanted to do.”
On the bus people can sign up to a 12-month personalised program to quit smoking with telephone check-ins or drop-in sessions on Mondays at the Twickenham Civic Centre from 10am to 3pm.
Alongside Carvell-Hall there was a pharmacist on board the bus and an oral hygienist.
There are many health issues associated with smoking including gum disease.
There are also a range of different methods to quit smoking.
Carvell-Hall explained that people can receive nicotine replacement medications through their GP and, through Richmond’s Stop Smoking team, over-18s can use the Swap to Stop scheme.
The scheme issues a free vape kit and vape supplies for up to 12 weeks with vape strength altered dependent on how many cigarettes the person typically smoked daily.
Stoptober has helped over two and a half million smokers break their addiction to cigarettes, according to NHS data.
Smoking has come under the spotlight in recent weeks following the reveal of the government’s plans to ban smoking in outdoor areas, including pub gardens.
The White Swan in Twickenham has already banned smoking in one of its outdoor seating areas.
Assistant Manager Dj Wolniewicz said: “We made the change after Covid in our tent covered area.
“Smokers upset people, especially when they are eating food in close proximity.
“We are not an exclusively non-smoking pub, many of our customers smoke and they can on the balcony”
For people interested in Stoptober in the Richmond, the Health Bus will be open at the following locations on these dates:
- Tuesday 8 October from 9am to 3pm outside Kanset Pharmacy, 177 Ashburnham Rd, Richmond, TW10 7NR
- Wednesday 9 October 10.30am to 1pm at Twickenham Civic Centre
- Thursday 17 October from 10am to 4pm at Nelson Road Car Park, 1 Library Way, Twickenham, TW2 7AP
- Thursday 24 October from 10am to 4pm at The Barons, Twickenham, Off St Margaret’s Road, TW1 2LH
