NHS England has announced that every pharmacy in England will be able to offer stop smoking support to patients when they are discharged from hospital from this week.

To mark National No Smoking Day, NHS help to kick the habit will be available in every local pharmacy which signs up to offer the service. The offering means that smokers who are admitted to hospital and encouraged to quit can get help from their nearest chemist as well as being able to choose the site that is most convenient for them.

The latest NHS figures show that more than half a million hospital admissions a year are attributable to smoking. There is a pledge with the NHS Long Term Plan to offer tobacco treatment services to all hospital inpatients by 2023/24.

Pilots of the service in Oldham have successfully supported smokers to stub out the habit after they left hospital – three in five people successfully quit.

Dr Bola Owolabi, director of health inequalities, said: “While rates are falling, giving up smoking remains one of the most important steps to leading a longer and healthier life, and the NHS is working hard to make it as easy as possible for people who decide to quit smoking while in hospital, to receive support once they return home. Leaving hospital is a good incentive for people to quit smoking – and NHS pharmacies will be on their local high street with advice, support and treatment to help them stub out the dangerous habit once and for all.”