Plan to pay smokers to quit
21 June 2008, 03:38 PM
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Plan to pay smokers to quit
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Plan to help smokers stub out habit
Smokers in deprived communities in one of Scotland's major cities are to be offered £12.50 a week to quit, it has been announced.
NHS Tayside hopes the £500,000 pilot scheme will help 900 people in Dundee stop smoking over the next two years.
Participants in the new initiative will be offered £12.50 per week credited onto an electronic card which they can redeem in their local supermarket for fresh food and groceries, but not alcohol and cigarettes.
They can take part in the programme for a maximum of 12 weeks.
Those taking part will receive nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) through their local pharmacy, where they will have to do a weekly carbon monoxide breath test to prove they are still smoke-free.
Participants will also receive social support from Dundee Healthy Living Initiative (DHLI) where they can access smoking cessation support, physical activities and other lifestyle advice and support.
This new incentive scheme is a partnership between NHS Tayside, Dundee City Council and the Scottish Government and is launching in the autumn.
It follows the success of the Give it up for Baby (GIUFB) initiative in Tayside, which encourages and supports pregnant smokers to give up cigarettes.
Paul Ballard, Deputy Director of Public Health at NHS Tayside said: "Currently there are 36,000 smokers in Dundee, half of whom live in poverty. Although current smoking cessation services are working well, because of the complexities of poverty and health we know we need to do more to tackle this."
If the scheme is a success it could be rolled out across Scotland
is it^ gonna help?
Plan to help smokers stub out habit
Smokers in deprived communities in one of Scotland's major cities are to be offered £12.50 a week to quit, it has been announced.
NHS Tayside hopes the £500,000 pilot scheme will help 900 people in Dundee stop smoking over the next two years.
Participants in the new initiative will be offered £12.50 per week credited onto an electronic card which they can redeem in their local supermarket for fresh food and groceries, but not alcohol and cigarettes.
They can take part in the programme for a maximum of 12 weeks.
Those taking part will receive nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) through their local pharmacy, where they will have to do a weekly carbon monoxide breath test to prove they are still smoke-free.
Participants will also receive social support from Dundee Healthy Living Initiative (DHLI) where they can access smoking cessation support, physical activities and other lifestyle advice and support.
This new incentive scheme is a partnership between NHS Tayside, Dundee City Council and the Scottish Government and is launching in the autumn.
It follows the success of the Give it up for Baby (GIUFB) initiative in Tayside, which encourages and supports pregnant smokers to give up cigarettes.
Paul Ballard, Deputy Director of Public Health at NHS Tayside said: "Currently there are 36,000 smokers in Dundee, half of whom live in poverty. Although current smoking cessation services are working well, because of the complexities of poverty and health we know we need to do more to tackle this."
If the scheme is a success it could be rolled out across Scotland
21 June 2008, 03:45 PM
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So, not only do they lose the tax revenue on the ****, they pay OUT tax revenue on people who don't have the willpower to give up smoking by themselves ....
What's the betting that a) the *carbon monoxide breath test* can be fooled and b) that most will be back on the **** about a day after the money runs out ...?
Cynical? Moi? Nah! Just had 10 years of Nu Labia cr*p ...
Dave
What's the betting that a) the *carbon monoxide breath test* can be fooled and b) that most will be back on the **** about a day after the money runs out ...?
Cynical? Moi? Nah! Just had 10 years of Nu Labia cr*p ...
Dave
21 June 2008, 05:39 PM
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Those cabon monoxide tests carn't be fooled i got free patches through the RAF to quit and i had to go and take one of those tests every few weeks and got a telling off if it ever went up, in the end though i realised patches are a waste of time it's all in your head and i just stopped, still have a crafty *** with a beer though, but i can live with that.
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21 June 2008, 07:10 PM
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The bit I love about this whole giving up smoking thing is the old line about how much the NHS saves through more people giving up. Given the fact that everyone will die one day of something how can the NHS save money? Appearing on the news the other night was the bombshell that there are more and more people with dementia and in a few decades it'll cost the NHS X amount of billions in care. WTF 
21 June 2008, 08:50 PM
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How do they know you even smoked to start with? I'd happily lie to them about being a smoker to claim the free money and let them test me to see if I'd been smoking 
21 June 2008, 10:45 PM
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Once all the 'takers' have spent their £50/month on extra food they will probably be fat enough to get another handout to stop eating so much.
Another crackpot idea, when will it be exactly that the rest of us get some kind of reward for the fact that we actually behave ourselves, rather than having to see all the arseholes get rewarded for some half-hearted effort at responsible behaviour?
Kevin
Another crackpot idea, when will it be exactly that the rest of us get some kind of reward for the fact that we actually behave ourselves, rather than having to see all the arseholes get rewarded for some half-hearted effort at responsible behaviour?
Kevin
21 June 2008, 11:29 PM
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Nope, I don't get it either. The fact that they are coming off smoking should be sufficient monetary incentive anyway. If the only reason you are coming off smoking is to save some cash then you are not likely to succeed anyway. Your reasons will need to be stronger than that.
21 June 2008, 11:50 PM
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I stopped smoking last August.. and I think this is a bonkers idea personally, mind you I wouldn't have minded the free groceries whilst I was stopping.. who wouldn't!?
I still say and maintain that IF you really WANT to give up you will! Anything other and you will fail.... patches, drugs, money whatever... if there is any doubt about whether you really want to stop then there's little chance of sucess. Sure these things can make it easier.. but I now truely believe it's mostly about mental preparedness!
22 June 2008, 03:10 PM
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Easy way to stop smoking is to withhold NHS treatment or make it chargeable for smokers. I'm a smoker myself and fully understand if I choose to smoke then why the hell should my treatment be free if I do something that makes me ill.
Giving me £150 is nothing to me so that won't work for lots of people.
AllanB
Giving me £150 is nothing to me so that won't work for lots of people.
AllanB
22 June 2008, 03:27 PM
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Easy way to stop smoking is to withhold NHS treatment or make it chargeable for smokers. I'm a smoker myself and fully understand if I choose to smoke then why the hell should my treatment be free if I do something that makes me ill.
Giving me £150 is nothing to me so that won't work for lots of people.
AllanB
Giving me £150 is nothing to me so that won't work for lots of people.
AllanB
I say scrap the NHS as it is and make healthcare payable compulsory via insurance for those aged 18-65 and free to all others.
Smokers already pay extra tax for their habit, which more than offsets any treatment they will need in the future. Non smokers will need the NHS just as much as smokers yet contribute no extra funding like smokers do.
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