As the nation marks No Smoking Day, the team based at Stepping Hill Hospital who help patients quit are celebrating a big financial landmark.   

Since the launch of the CURE team in September 2020, the total amount of money saved by patients has been calculated over £2m, in addition to the huge health benefits from stopping smoking. One in four people who have accepted help from the team have succeeded in giving up for good.

CURE is a Greater Manchester-wide project of comprehensive secondary care treatment for tobacco addiction. It ensures all active smokers admitted to hospital are immediately offered specialist support from the team, together with nicotine replacement therapy and other medications for the duration of their admission, and after discharge too.

Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death, disability, illness and social inequality in our area and indeed in the world. The term ‘CURE’ has been specifically chosen to ‘medicalise’ tobacco addiction and move away from the stigma of a lifestyle choice towards disease treatment.

One patient who has been helped by the team is Florence Brown-Coke, known to locals as ‘Mama Flo’, the owner of the celebrated Jamaican restaurant of the same name on Buxton Road in Stockport, which has become a favourite of famous footballers such as Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire.

Flo had experienced weeks of pain in her chest last December, before contacting her GP who got her an ambulance straight to Stepping Hill Hospital, where an acute coronary syndrome was diagnosed. She was in hospital for a few days receiving her medication, and it was then the CURE team asked if Flo wanted help giving up smoking.

Flo said “I’d been smoking for many years, and I had tried to give up a few times but never succeeded. With the CURE team I’m much more confident, they are so good and so supportive, they really listen to what you have to say 100% which is a big help. I’ve not smoked since and I’m going to carry on, and I’ve even convinced my daughter, granddaughter and one of my customers to give up too!”

Respiratory nurse practitioner and CURE team leader Pauline Holmes said “We’re very proud that we’ve helped so many people like Flo to quit smoking, which is the best thing anyone can do for their health, and saves them so much money too, which is even more important during these financially pressured times. £2m saved is certainly a landmark.  Smoking is the result of addiction to nicotine, not a lifestyle choice, and we’re here to give people all the help and support they need to beat this addiction.”

For more information on CURE visit https://thecureproject.co.uk/ If you’re interested in stopping smoking outside hospital and are registered with a Stockport GP, then visit https://www.healthystockport.co.uk/topic/smoking