Hundreds of thousands of smokers are set to be given a drug to improve their chances of quitting, with NHS chiefs believing it will save thousands of lives.
Approximately 85,000 people a year will be offered access to varenicline in the UK. Varenicline is a once-daily pill that experts say is just as effective as e-cigarettes in helping people kick the habit.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, hailed the pill as a potential “game changer” in the fight against smoking and the huge health harm it causes. .
This drug helps people quit smoking by suppressing the craving for nicotine and preventing nicotine from affecting the brain the way it normally does. It has also been shown to reduce side effects that smokers may experience when they stop using tobacco, such as sleep disturbances and irritability.
Britain's NHS will administer varenicline as part of efforts to continue reducing the number of smokers. Smoking rates have declined over the past 20 years. 11.6% of UK adults This custom still exists today, with about 6 million people.
Healthcare leaders hope it will reduce smoking-related deaths by 9,500 over the next five years.
The drug, then known as Champix, began being used in 2006 and was being taken by about 85,800 people a year until July 2021. Later, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates medicines, found impurities in the drug and it could no longer be used. among them.
This issue has now been resolved to the satisfaction of the MHRA, who recently approved a generic version of the drug for use by NHS England. quoted Research by University College London They found that every £1 spent on pills saved £1.65 in healthcare costs.
Pharmaceutical company Teva UK plans to offer a generic version of the drug.
Smoking experts welcomed the return of varenicline. Dr Nicola Lindson, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, said:[It] It is one of the most effective ways to quit smoking, especially when combined with behavioral support such as counseling. ”
Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, welcomed the move, but said the NHS also needed to improve how it supported smokers to quit.
Meanwhile, UK hospital bosses say Labor will not be able to deliver on its mission to get NHS waiting times back to normal before the end of this parliament. In the survey by NHS Providers, the heads of all participating acute care trusts found that waiting times for routine hospital treatment were unlikely to return to 18 weeks (the maximum set out in the NHS Charter) by mid-year. , or said they believe it to be very low. -2029.
One trust manager said: “The government's biggest focus is on getting back to 18 weeks, which is the hardest standard to meet. If you think about it, there are 7 million people on the waiting list and we're trying to get them off the waiting list. We are currently enrolling even more people.”
The extra £22 billion guaranteed to the NHS by the Chancellor over the next two years will tackle deep-rooted problems in the service, including lack of access to GPs, a growing number of sick people and difficulties in discharging patients who are medically eligible for discharge. Not enough to overcome. says a trusted boss.
Safran Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: [on the 18-week target] But it's believable when leaders say they put their heart and soul into achieving the 18-week standard. [by 2029]?I think it's really hard and difficult to predict.? ”
The survey of 171 trust leaders from 118 trusts also revealed that they are worried about how England's NHS will cope with the coming winter.
