Councils are cutting their smoking cessation budgets by hundreds of thousands of pounds – a move that experts warn will see ‘far fewer people’ quit smoking in the coming years.
Pulse has learnt of six major metropolitan and county councils that are cutting smoking cessation budgets.
GPs have warned that this will set smoking cessation back ’15 years’.
Smoking charity ASH reported as many as 40% of local authorities will have to shrink their budget for stop smoking services.
This follows the Government’s decision to cut £200m from the public health budget last year – which it said will not result in frontline services being cut.
However, Pulse has found six councils that are cutting services.
Full story in Pulse 22 January 2016