Today (4 July) marks the first anniversary of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust’s tobacco dependency team and its work to reduce the harm caused by smoking in the region.
The specialist team offers expert support and advice to any in-patient who smokes, providing nicotine replacement therapy while in hospital and advises on where to access support to quit on discharge.
In the past year, the team has helped 90 people quit for at least four weeks.
Ellinor Stark (known as Ell), 47, from Hartlepool, smoked 20-a-day for 34 years before quitting with the help of the tobacco dependency team.
Ell, who has managed to buy a car with the money saved from smoking, said: “No matter how good someone’s intentions are, no matter how profound their words sound, no one will ever convince you to stop smoking if you are not ready to do so.
“I remember my very first ciggie like it was yesterday. I don’t remember the 320,000 cigarettes that I then smoked over the next 34 years, but unfortunately, my poor lungs did.
“I was always healthy, always fit, always active and on the go…until the day I wasn’t!
“While recovering from COVID, I started noticing I was getting out of breath after walking a couple of hundred yards. A month later, I ended up in hospital for 10 days with type one respiratory failure. Seeing the fear and worry I had caused my family completely broke my heart.
“Whilst in hospital the tobacco dependency people came to see me. They didn’t preach, they didn’t judge. They understood how I felt and took the time to speak with me and created a quit plan to match what I needed.
“So what’s my situation now? I’m proud to say I’m a non-smoker! My tobacco dependency advisor keeps in touch with me regularly and I feel great telling her how well I’m doing. I can tell she is proud of me and that makes me feel even better about myself.
“I’m not going to tell anyone it’s easy because it’s totally not. However, once you’ve made that massive decision, the support, encouragement and understanding that is out there for you will make you question why you didn’t quit years ago.
“Best of luck to anyone aiming to quit.”
Julie Bardsley, tobacco dependency specialist lead, said: “People like Ell are why we do what we do. What an amazing success. We’re so proud of what she has achieved.
“We know it’s not easy to quit smoking but with the right support we really believe anyone can stub it out for good. Ellinor is that example. She struggled at times but she made it.
“We’re one year in to our project and we’ve helped 90 people to quit. That’s a great start and we’re keen to see that number rise and rise.
“One day we will be a smoke free country and we’re going to keep doing our bit to make that day happen.”
The NHS website has excellent advice on quitting smoking.
