Tobacco use: smoking cessation

PHS publish smoking cessation analyses based on the national minimum dataset for NHS Stop Smoking Services in Scotland. Further details on Scotland’s National Smoking Cessation Database and the national monitoring of NHS smoking cessation services in Scotland are available on the PHS website.

Key findings from the latest annual national monitoring analyses produced by PHS, on an annual and quarterly basis, are provided below. The annual report provides an analysis of uptake and outcomes of smoking cessation services for 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023. For access to the annual Stop Smoking Service statistics or quarterly performance figures against the latest Local Delivery Plan (LDP) standard dashboards, please navigate to the relevant dashboard via PHS’s Stop Smoking website.

It is important to note that the statistics being reported in this release include the period when Scotland was facing the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, smoking cessation services changed their service delivery model. This included stopping both face-to-face appointments and verifying quits using carbon monoxide monitor validation. Therefore, caution should be applied when comparing results for 2020/21 and subsequent years to those for previous years.

Quit attempts in 2022/23

• In 2022/23, the number of attempts to stop smoking made with the help of NHS smoking cessation services fell for the eleventh consecutive year to 26,954. This is a 14.1% reduction from 2021/22. There are a number of factors which can influence the use of NHS smoking cessation services; these could include the use of electronic cigarettes and a reduction in smoking prevalence.  

Success of quit attempts in 2022/23

• Of the 26,954 quit attempts made in 2022/23 in Scotland, 46.2% (12,444) resulted in a self-reported successful quit at the four-week follow-up stage. A further 11.8% (3,191) were reported as unsuccessful and 42.0% (11,319) were recorded as unknown, blank or lost to follow-up.

• Of the 12,444 self-reported four-week successful quits, 5.4% (666) were confirmed successful using CO testing, 1.7% (210) were not confirmed (and therefore were still smoking). 92.9% (11,568) had no CO reading taken or the result was unknown. This reflects changes to service delivery during COVID-19 where CO testing was greatly reduced and should not be overinterpreted.

• 2013/14 to 2022/23 the percentage of self-reported successful quit attempts at four weeks ranged between 35.9% (2014/15) and 49.3% (2020/21)

Performance against the Local Delivery Plan Standard

• In the financial year 2022/23, NHS Scotland achieved 69.4% (4,877 out of 7,026) of the required annual LDP Standard.
• Two out of fourteen NHS Boards met or exceeded their annual LDP Standard during the financial year 2022/23. NHS Board performance against their annual LDP Standard ranged from 36.8% to 144.7%.