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** 1 July 2025
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** UK
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** NHS reintroduces leading anti-smoking pill after safety concerns resolved (#1)
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** Sheffield’s anti-smoking drive earns council praise amid falling rates (#2)
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** Ban on disposable vapes raises questions over accessibility and effectiveness (#3)
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** New regulatory approach to fast-track drug approvals in the NHS (#4)
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** NHS to scrap bodies with Healthwatch England among those cut (#5)
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** International
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** Greece tightens tobacco and alcohol laws to protect minors (#6)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Written Statement (#7)
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** UK
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** NHS reintroduces leading anti-smoking pill after safety concerns resolved

A prescription drug widely regarded as the most effective aid for quitting smoking has returned to the NHS after being withdrawn in 2021 due to safety concerns. Varenicline, also known by its brand name Champix, works by reducing nicotine cravings and blocking the brain’s reward response to smoking. Now deemed safe for use, the medication is being offered through NHS Stop Smoking services alongside counselling and other support. A second nicotine replacement therapy similar to varenicline, cytisine, is also in use. Health experts estimate that the reintroduction of varenicline could prevent thousands of smoking-related deaths by 2030.

Source: The Sun, 30 June 2025
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** Sheffield’s anti-smoking drive earns council praise amid falling rates

A city-wide campaign in Sheffield aimed at reducing smoking has been commended by local health leaders after a notable drop in the number of smokers. Led by Sarah Hepworth, the campaign's tobacco-control lead, and supported by more than 50 partner organisations, the initiative seeks to create a smoke-free generation by 2030. Greg Fell, the council’s director of public health, reaffirmed continued backing for the programme, which now includes support for those cutting down as well as quitting. Smoking rates in the city have fallen from 17.6% in 2017 to 10.3% in 2023, but around 53,000 adults still smoke, many of whom face mental health challenges or live in deprived areas.

Source: BBC News, 30 June 2025
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** Ban on disposable vapes raises questions over accessibility and effectiveness

A month after the UK implemented a ban on single-use vapes, concerns have emerged over whether the measure is achieving its intended environmental and behavioural goals. Although the new rules require vapes to be both rechargeable and refillable, many retailers are struggling to stock the necessary refill pods, limiting their availability to consumers. This has led to confusion among users and fears that many are continuing to dispose of the new devices prematurely.

Environmental groups have warned that the similarity in design between banned products and new models may undermine efforts to reduce waste. Meanwhile, some industry figures argue that early data suggests the shift towards reusable vapes is gaining traction despite temporary supply issues.

Source: ITV News, 30 June 2025
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** New regulatory approach to fast-track drug approvals in the NHS

A new collaboration between two key regulatory bodies, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), aims to reduce the time it takes to approve medicines for NHS patients. This initiative, part of Labour’s ten-year health strategy, is set to cut approval times by nearly a third, enabling faster access to life-saving treatments. The combined effort will streamline the licensing process and ensure quicker decisions on patient access, with expected benefits including a reduction in administrative costs for businesses.

The new framework also highlights a focus on personalised treatments and the integration of AI technologies in the healthcare system. The move is expected to boost the UK’s life sciences sector and improve patient outcomes by providing earlier access to innovative therapies.

Source: The Times, 1 July 2025
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** NHS to scrap bodies with Healthwatch England among those cut

The UK government has announced plans to eliminate 201 organisations within the NHS as part of a strategy to simplify the system. Key bodies such as Healthwatch England, which has advocated for patients since 2012, will be dissolved. Healthwatch has played a crucial role in raising concerns and advising the government on service improvements.

The aim of the restructure is to reduce bureaucracy and enhance patient feedback through direct channels like the NHS smartphone app. While the plan seeks to cut unnecessary regulation, concerns have been raised about ensuring the continued protection of patients’ voices. Under the new strategy, the NHS will also experiment with linking hospital funding to the quality of care, with a focus on penalising poor service.

Source: BBC News, 28 June 2025
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** International
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** Greece tightens tobacco and alcohol laws to protect minors

Greece is introducing stricter regulations on the sale of tobacco and alcohol products to minors as part of a new bill aimed at reducing youth access to harmful substances. The Bill, which will be published in the Official Gazette, makes it a criminal offence for adults to send children to buy cigarettes, a practice that has been common in the country. Vendors will now be required to ask for identification to ensure that customers are of legal age before selling tobacco products.

Additionally, the bill imposes a cap on the nicotine content in tobacco pouches, reducing the limit from 70 grams to 16 grams. This is part of Greece's broader efforts to safeguard public health, particularly among younger generations.

Source: The Times, 30 June 2025
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Written Statement

Written Statement from Ashley Dalton, Public Health and Prevention Minister, Labour, West Lancashire

Today I am updating the House on some of the steps the Government will take to prevent and delay the onset of ill-health, thereby restoring the means for people to lead a healthy life in places where it has become most difficult and in turn reduce pressure on the NHS.

Healthy Food Standards

Obesity is one of the leading causes of ill-health, costing the NHS £11.4bn per year. Obesity rates have doubled in the last thirty years and one in five children now leave primary school with obesity. In the 2023/24 school year, the prevalence of obesity was more than twice as high among children living in the most deprived areas than among children living in the least deprived areas. We will only tackle this successfully by taking a whole of society approach, with Government partnering with industry to drive innovation and give people the power to make healthy choices.

We are announcing plans to work with the food industryto combat rising childhood obesity. Under new proposals, all large food businesses will be mandated to report against standardised metrics on healthier food sales by the end of this Parliament. This will set full transparency and accountability around the food that businesses are selling and encourage healthier products. Publishing this data annually will also support business investors to invest in healthier companies, by seeing which are performing well, encouraging further reformulation and development of new healthy foods.

Using that reporting, we will set new mandatory targets to increase the healthiness of sales in all communities and work with the Food Strategy Advisory Board on how to sequence the introduction of this policy. We want to use smarter regulation that makes the most of industry’s innovation and experience. Businesses will have the freedom to decide how they achieve the target – through improving products, introducing new healthier products or changing loyalty schemes to make healthier products more available and available to all. Public health experts believe small improvements to the average meal to reduce daily calorie intake by just 40-50kcals could lead to 340,000 fewer children and 2 million fewer adults living with obesity.

We will engage with industry closely as we develop and consult on these proposals. We intend to work with all the devolved nations to ensure regulatory alignment for food businesses and to achieve the maximum reduction of obesity we can across the UK.

NHS weight management services

We will be asking the NHS to do more to support our approach to prevention. To support people already living with obesity, we will double the number of patients referred to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme, offering help proven to deliver results to 125,000 more people every year. Additionally, pioneering relationships with the biggest pharmaceutical companies will be brokered to expand access to weight loss services and treatments across the NHS, ensuring fairer access to weight loss drugs for those who cannot afford private prescriptions.

Vaccines

Vaccinations are, after access to clean water, the most effective public health intervention in the world for saving lives and promoting good health. However uptake, particularly for children, has been in gradual decline for over a decade. Improving uptake will protect our children from infectious disease, reduce the burden on the NHS, and help consign some diseases to history – such as cervical cancer. To improve access to vaccinations we are enhancing access to general practices for vaccinations, testing models to deliver vaccinations to some families through health visits, and expanding the role of community pharmacy, including offering catch-up vaccinations to protect against HPV.

We are expanding the NHS App so that everyone knows what vaccinations they have had, what they need and where to get them, at a time and location that meets their needs. Patients will be able to book jabs on the NHS App. Parents will be able to access a new vaccination hub on the NHS App, on behalf of their child, during 2026/27.Finally, we will launch the world's first gonorrhoea immunisation programme to protect at-risk adults and help prevent the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

Health Store App Marketplace

We will build a Health Store App Marketplace. We want to empower people to manage their own health and care, putting the ability to treat, manage and prevent conditions into the hands of our population. Successful adoption of digital health technologies across a range of clinical areas including mental health, cardiovascular health and musculoskeletal conditions (MSK) may lead to improved patient outcomes, reduced waiting times and improved economic activity, by supporting people to stay in or return to work.

The Health Store will ensure that the products with the best evidence reach the hands of patients, irrespective of where you live across the country. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will play a crucial role in evaluating technologies, guaranteeing clinical effectiveness for patients and cost effectiveness for the NHS. We will explore central funding for those technologies with an effective evidence base, as determined by NICE, making the NHS an attractive market which centrally supports innovation.

NHS Points Scheme

We are announcing a new NHS Points Scheme which will be developed to reward people for taking positive actions to improve their health. Based on loyalty schemes popular with supermarkets, coffee shops and mobile banking apps, people could receive gift vouchers or discounts at their favourite high street stores by simply upping their step count or making healthier food choices. We will shortly launch a market engagement process to start the conversation with business about what behaviours could be incentivised.

Musculoskeletal conditions

To further improve how patients in England engage with the NHS, and where it is clinically appropriate for them to do so, patients will be able bypass GPs to directly access specialist treatment using the NHS App. This will include for MSK, mental health talking therapies, podiatry and audiology services. This will help deliver faster treatment for patients whilst enabling GPs to focus on more complex cases by reducing pressure on them.

Tobacco

In addition to the measures set out, the Government is determined to put an end to the harms of tobacco. Smoking is still the biggest killer - it claims around 80,000 lives a year, causes 1-in-4 of all cancer deaths in England and kills up to two-thirds of its long-term users. Our landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill will help deliver our ambition for a smoke-free UK. It will create a smoke-free generation, gradually ending the sale of tobacco products across the country and breaking the cycle of addiction and disadvantage. The Bill will also strengthen the existing ban on smoking in public places. And whilst we know vapes are less harmful than smoking and can be an effective quit aid for smokers, we are doing more to protect children from the risks of harm and addiction. The Bill will stop vapes from being deliberately branded, promoted, and advertised to children to stop the next generation from becoming hooked on nicotine.

The full set of prevention measures, which will further set out how we deliver healthier, more prosperous lives for all, and help reduce health inequalities, build a stronger labour market and lower NHS demand, will be set out shortly in the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England.
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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