More smokers need to set quit date - health bosses

An estimated 21,580 adults are smokers in Telford and Wrekin - three times higher in the most deprived areas, according to a report.

Health organisations in Shropshire are investing in new initiatives to persuade children not to start vaping - and encourage adults to quit.

Telford & Wrekin Council could see a "smoke free alliance" between police, councils and health bodies, according to its director of public health Helen Onions.

The council spent £466,000 in 2024/25 on smoking cessation services and an additional government grant of £274,000 is being given this year to cut the number of people smoking, a meeting was told.

"We need to do more to engage, we need more quitters to set a quit date," Mrs Onions said.

Officials want to see more adults quit smoking after hearing the number of quitters in Telford and Wrekin dropped from more than 1,000 to less than 300, in the last 10 years.

This could be because adults have taken up vaping as a step towards giving up cigarettes but stopped there, health bosses said.

Teen vaping increasing

On Thursday, Mrs Onions told the Telford Health & Wellbeing Board that alliances in Greater Manchester and Sheffield have seen a decline in smoking.

Mrs Onions' first public health annual report, called "Towards a Smoke Free Future", said an estimated 21,580 adults remain smokers in Telford and Wrekin and rates are three times higher in the most deprived areas.

It said more than 1,900 young people in Telford and Wrekin, aged 11-17 years, are estimated to have experimented with vaping in 2023.

In terms of regular vapers, the estimate is 600 of the 11-17-year-olds in Telford and Wrekin vape every day, a rise from fewer than 100 regular vapers in 2014.

The director said she was in discussions with the NHS and Shropshire's public health director, Rachel Robinson, to see whether the alliance would cover just Telford and Wrekin or be one for Shropshire as a whole.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.