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Record number of smokers in hospital in Hertfordshire
A record number of people in Herefordshire went to hospital as a result of smoking last year, according to new figures.
Charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) says the increase in smoking-related hospital admissions places a “real burden” on the NHS and calls on the Government to do more to help smokers.
Data from Public Health England shows there were 2,082 admissions to hospital attributable to smoking in Herefordshire in 2018-19 – a 4% rise on the year before. This was the highest number since records began in 2009-10, and over the 11-year period, 19,000 people were hospitalised.
Hazel Cheeseman, director of policy at Action on Smoking and Health said: “Most smokers start smoking as children and try many times to quit. Smokers are more likely to get sick, develop complications and take longer to recover than non-smokers. This places a real burden on the NHS. Government has pledged to do more to help smokers in the NHS which is welcome. But more action is needed to achieve their vision of smoking rates of 5% or less by 2030.”
“We are calling for a Smokefree 2030 Fund to make the high-profit tobacco industry pay for the damage it does.”
Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, has previously warned that smokers are also at greater risk from coronavirus: “For most respiratory infections, you worry about people who smoke a bit more. They’re more likely to get it and their immune system is less good.”
Source: Worcester News, 22 March 2020
See also:
PHE. Local Tobacco Control Profiles. Smoking attributable hospital admissions 2018/19. Source: NHS Digital - Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Office for National Statistics (ONS)
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Australia: Nobel prize winner recommends quitting smoking to protect yourself from coronavirus
Peter Doherty, an Australian scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering how the immune system identifies cells that have been infected by a virus, has recommended that smokers quit to protect themselves from coronavirus.
Professor Doherty warned people to take coronavirus very seriously.
"Do not think that this is just another influenza. It's killing at least 10 times as many people as influenza," he said. "And it's particularly lethal for those in their 70s and 80s. It is dangerous and older people need to isolate themselves."
"If you're a smoker, do try to stop," he said.
NSW Health indicates that for someone with an ongoing health issue or respiratory condition, it may take weeks to recover.
Source: ABC News, 22 March 2020
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