26.09.19
LGA responds to ASH report on smokers’ impact on social care costs
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) have released a report today revealing that smokers are costing the social care system £720m a year in England.
Their research found that 670,000 people have need for care as a result of smoking and the cost of smoking-related social care to local authorities is £720 m a year.
Last year, smoking killed 78,000 people in England alone, and for every person killed by smoking, at least 30 live with a serious smoking-related illness.
They found that smokers develop a social care need significantly younger than never-smokers. The average age for needing care is 62 for smokers and 72 for never smokers.
ASH claim that helping people to quit smoking will result in reduced social care costs, less people needing the care and less emotional burden on the public.
ASH has called for local authorities to create a smoking prevalence target in line with those set out in the ‘The End of Smoking’ report, developed in collaboration with local authorities, the NHS and civil society.
Techniques include de-normalising smoking, promoting an annual quit attempt and providing diverse stop smoking support.
The Local Government (LGA) has responded today saying that councils need long-term funding for their public health service in order to work with ASH and achieve the Government’s Prevention green paper ambition of eliminating smoking by 2030.
Councillor Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:
“Councils are responsible for public health and doing everything they can to help smokers quit, including running a range of innovative programmes and services to encourage them to stub out tobacco for good.
“While smoking rates continue to fall, there needs to be greater targeting of those groups most in need of support, including preventing younger adults from continuing the habit into later life and developing further health problems.”