FREE NHS Funded £25 Vape Vouchers For Smokers Ready To Quit

Smokers in Hampshire UK looking to quit the stinkies this New Year are being offered £25 NHS vaping vouchers to help stub out their cigarettes.

This is believed to be the first stop Smoking voucher scheme here in the UK and is backed by the NHS stop smoking service.

The major medical organizations in the UK – including Public Health England that has also launched a new stop smoking campaign – now admit vaping is not only the most popular way to stop smoking but backed with support from NHS clinics – it’s also the most effective.

There’s no details of the costs involved that I can find however those behind the Quit4Life scheme says it’s ‘cost effective’.

Nationally smoking related illnesses costs the NHS £2.6billion per year as well as taking the lives of over 120,000 smokers per year.

Julia Robson the clinical service manager of the Gosport – Havant and Fareham based stop smoking service said:

We are excited to support Public Health England in their message to embrace quitting smoking through e-cigarettes.

As shown in the Stoptober messages, e-cigarettes can be extremely effective as a means to giving up smoking, especially when combined with additional support from a stop smoking service.

This cost-effective and popular way to switch from smoking cigarettes has already helped many smokers to quit tobacco.

Quit4Life aim to support as many people as possible who would like to improve both their health and wealth by quitting smoking, either with a vape or more traditional medication.

How Smokers Can Get The Vape Vouchers

Quit4Life has it’s own dedicated web page where smokers can sign up for the free stop smoking courses and become eligible for the £25 vape voucher.

These can be ‘cashed in’ at a variety of vape shops across the county.

The site says:

Contact Quit4Life to sign up to our support, and your personal stop smoking adviser can issue you with your vaping Starter Kit voucher.

The voucher can be redeemed at selected approved e-cigarette shops.

Call us today to make an appointment at your local session, to see an adviser to receive your vaping starter kit voucher.

Please note that the starter kit is ideal for the 12 week treatment programme offered by Quit4Life, as a means to stop smoking tobacco. The starter kit is not designed for long-term use. Your Quit4Life adviser can discuss this with you.

The full list of vape shops to redeem the vouchers can be found on the website as well as the terms and conditions.

So Is This Good Stop Smoking Scheme?

I emailed the scheme to find out what the starter kit consists of but as yet I haven’t had a reply – let’s hope its a good one and they’ve taken advice from those of us in the know because there’s nothing worse than a bad first experience of e-cigarettes to put you off.

We have plenty of advice for new vapers and detailed reviews and vape guides for those of you getting started – and never be afraid to ask us anything to do with vaping in the comments!

OK so what do I think about these £25 vouchers?

At a time when the NHS is under severe pressure it might seem a little shall we say blase’ to spend the cash on vape gear.

I mean let’s face it the majority of us bought our own kits and fought hard to quit without any government or NHS support.

However the cost of this scheme is I would imagine a drop in the ocean compared to the £116 billion the NHS costs us each year.

Take into account not only the health of smokers – but the savings the NHS could make if even more of them quit and came to vaping makes this in my opinion a good idea – so long as it’s done right.

Like it or lump it here in the UK and indeed many parts of the world ‘tobacco and poverty’ go hand in hand with the poorer in society most likely to be heavy smokers.

A recent Action on Smoking and Health [ASH] study found that:

ASH research shows that in the UK 1.7 million households which include a smoker are currently in poverty but around 28% (over half a million) could be lifted out of poverty if they stopped smoking. This means 365,0000 fewer children could be living below the poverty line (ASH, 2015).

So yeah I think it’s an excellent idea and lets hope many more smokers can manage to give up that killer habit through vaping.

And yes I realize the argument if they can afford fags they can afford an Innokin Endura T20 starter kit and some decent e-liquid with the right nicotine strength…

But as we all know quitting can be tough and with a limited budget I guess some of the less well off smokers can’t justify the risk of spending their cash on a vape kit they think won’t work – get me being all ‘touchy feely liberal‘ lol…

But I hope you see my point and why I hope they do get the right kit – e-liquid and advice.

I’m pretty sure NHS funded stop smoking services across the UK will be keeping a close eye of both the uptake and success of the scheme and it might even go national – we shall see.

More info on the Quit4Life website.

So – what are your thoughts on this £25 vaping voucher scheme?

Is it a good idea? A waste of money? Or are you in Hampshire and ready to get yours and quit smoking?

Let us know in the comments below!