West and Central London offer significantly higher levels of local stop smoking support than other parts of the capital, according to new research.

The findings were uncovered by online retailer Vapekit as part of a study into the level of smoking cessation support within England. It looked at smoker data from every Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in England from 2020/21, encompassing all smokers over 15. The data was benchmarked against the number of local stop smoking support services within each area, and ranked according to its support-service-to-smoker ratio.

The research reveals that the areas covered by West London (Kensington and Chelsea and Queen’s Park and Paddington) CCG and Central London (Westminster) CCG contain four dedicated local stop smoking support services – a service staffed by expert advisers who can provide regular, tailored one-to-one support over a sustained period.

Big Stop Smoking Support Disparity

The areas covered by the above CCGs contain 68,371 smokers between them, with one support service per 17,093 smokers in these areas. By stark contrast, areas like Ealing, Brent, Hillingdon, and Havering don’t have any dedicated local stop smoking support services. South East London has one such service per 67,041 smokers (four services for 268,163 smokers in total) – almost quadruple the average for West and Central London.