Pharmacists in both community and hospital practice are particularly well placed to provide counselling, advice and support to smokers on how to give up, and on the range of medical products available to help them do so. We see community pharmacies, and pharmacies in hospital practice, as an integral part of good local smoking cessation services, and we are keen to co-operate with the NHS, and others at a local level, to develop and evaluate them. We believe there is also scope for further development of the role of community pharmacies as health promotion settings, and the support of pharmacists in public health is important here. We look forward to a developing partnership with the Government on smoking cessation. Our priority will be the need to help the least well off smokers.
Smoking is disproportionately high among the more disadvantaged.
If we are to reduce smoking overall, and reduce health inequalities, we must start with the groups who smoke the most. That leaves less money to buy healthy food and other necessities for good health. The Exchequer receives much of the money spent on tobacco in the form of duty. But we would much rather people gave up smoking altogether. The new NHS money will immediately go to areas of greatest deprivation.