Health board reveals it has most diehard smokers
SMOKERS in Glasgow are more addicted than others across the UK, experts said yesterday.
Dr Linda de Caestecker, the interim director of public health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said its research showed that smokers in the area were much more likely to have a cigarette within 30 minutes of waking up.
They were also more likely to say they smoked to help them cope with stress.
Dr Caestecker said the latest figures showed that in Glasgow as a whole, 37 per cent of people smoked in 2005, up slightly from 35 per cent in 2002.
But she said in some of the most deprived parts of the city almost 60 per cent of the population were smokers.
The Executive has set a target to reduce the number of smokers to 22 per cent by 2010, but Dr Caestecker said this would be a "major challenge" for their board.
"We are hoping that the smoking ban in public places introduced earlier this year will mean that when we conduct our next survey more people will have quit," she said.
Andy Kerr, the health minister, who conducted the board's annual review yesterday, said more work needed to be done to encourage quitters.
"I don't accept that we can't meet the target with the right services in place," he said. "It can be done, it should be done and it will be done."
