Kick the habit this No Smoking Day 2025

We’re encouraging smokers in Swindon to join the thousands of people in our local area who have already kicked the habit, this No Smoking Day (Wednesday 12 March).

One in ten adults living in the region smoke on a daily basis, which means approximately 100,000 local people are at risk of developing serious life-limiting illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

And with each cigarette taking up to 20 minutes off a person’s life, the average 20-a-day smoker could be cutting their own life short by more than six and a half hours every day.

The Trust is proud to have played its part in helping smokers to give quitting a go, by offering smoking cessation support, public health talks and Nicotine Replacement Therapy to staff and patients.

Andrea Meddings, Paramedic Practitioner, is coming up to one year smoke free with the help of the Trust's staff smoking cessation service. 

"I started smoking in my late teens, so I'd been smoking for over 30 years," she said.

"The stop smoking councillor I met was incredible. Non-judgmental, and the support was brilliant. With that support, I am literally coming up to just one year of being off the cigarettes. 

"I know it's hard, but I think it's really important that local people know that there's so many different ways to stop smoking and can reach out.

"I can't believe the difference its made not just to my health, but to my wallet as well."

In Swindon, information and advice, including how to access the support of a stop smoking coach, can be found at www.swindon.gov.uk/info/20139/live_well_swindon.

Through its Better Health website, the NHS also has an extensive selection of resources available to help all smokers, from those giving up for the first time to people keen to give it another go, to quit for good.

Some of the help available includes daily motivational emails, personalised quit plans, listings of local in-person support groups and advice on how to transition from cigarettes to vapes.