The team who support patients at Stepping Hill Hospital to stop smoking are celebrating this Stoptober with another landmark in helping people quit, and aiding them to save both money and environmental waste, as well as lives.

The CURE team have now helped nearly 700 people to quit smoking and stay stopped over the long term since they were set up in 2020, and they’ve calculated this has saved these patients over £3,000,000 in cash between them, on top of the huge health benefits of stopping.

In addition to its catastrophic effects on a smoker`s health, smoking has a detrimental impact on the environment too, as the effects of the cultivation of tobacco crops include deforestation, the use of fossil fuels, and the dumping or leaking of waste products into the natural environment.

Since September 2020, Stockport quitters reduced their consumption by 5,850,000 cigarettes, saving 21,645,000 litres of water, the equivalent of 81,000kg of CO2, and saving 9.68 acres of land.

The team are part of Greater Manchester-wide CURE project of comprehensive secondary care treatment for tobacco addiction. They make sure 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.

Pauline Holmes, Stockport NHS Foundation Trust CURE team lead and Respiratory Nurse Practitioner said “The effects of smoking on the health of an individual smoker are widely known, but the impact on the wider environment is much less so. We’re very proud that as a team we’ve been able to help so many patients stop smoking over the long term, which is helping not just their health, but their finances too, as well as helping to reduce carbon emissions. Stoptober is a great opportunity for people to quit tobacco, and help and support is there for those who make that step.”

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