No Smoking Day 2024

This year marks the 40th No Smoking Day in Wales! Since 1984, smoking rates in the adult population in Wales have dropped from 33% to 13%, meaning hundreds of thousands of people living healthier lives with far less risk of cancer and other life changing and life threatening illnesses.

This year we reflect on the harms that smoking still poses to those who continue to smoke and those around them, and we’re hopeful that within the next 40 years, we’ll see smoking as a thing of the past.

To help us inspire smokers to make the decision and take action to quit, Denise, from Cardiff has shared her story. After smoking 40 cigarettes a day for over 50 years, Denise decided to quit, and now, at 1 year smoke-free, she tells us how making that decision changed her life for the better.

For No Smoking Day 2024 Materials, such as social media posts, posters, and more, CLICK HERE.

There are many ways you can quit smoking. There is no one-size-fits-all, and it can take the average smoker multiple attempts to quit for good. It’s important to keep quitting and believing you can do it.

Although going ‘cold turkey’ is an option, it isn’t the most successful and can be really difficult. The addictive substance in cigarettes is nicotine, but the most harm comes from the toxic chemical ingredients. By replacing your cigarettes with a nicotine product you can slowly reduce your intake of nicotine but completely remove the risk of the harmful ingredients in cigarettes.

NRT products have varied amounts of nicotine, which helps you reduce intake over time. You can speak to the below contacts to help you choose the right strength for you.

Local community pharmacies are located across Wales and you will be able to find one that’s close to your home. They’ll be able to guide you in the right direction of which Nicotine Replacement Therapy products are right for you.

They have a great deal of expertise when it comes to smoking cessation and the different NRT products available and you can pop in and see them at a time that suits you.

Your GP will be able to refer you to your local quit-smoking team and should be able to advise on the first steps to quitting.

Help Me Quit is run by NHS Wales and offers free smoking cessation advice and support to all smokers in Wales.

As well as helping smokers to find the stop smoking support that suits them best, it offers weekly group and one to one sessions or telephone support with a smoking cessation advisor.

You’re up to three times more likely to quit for good if you give up using a combination of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and behavioural support.

Text HMQ to 80818 or visit helpmequit.wales

The average smoker could save over £2000 a year if they quit smoking. If you need an extra incentive to quit, we recommend using our calculator to work out how much quitting could save you.

Find out how much you could save here

You can also read our blog post on preparing to quit here