CCA press release: smoking cessation report

National community pharmacy smoking cessation service could stub out postcode lottery of support once and for all

A Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) report has called for a nationally commissioned community pharmacy smoking cessation service.

Smoking remains one of England’s largest public health challenges:

• Smoking accounts for approximately 75,000 deaths every year.¹
• Over 5 million people smoke in England.²
• Around a third of all smoking adults live in the most deprived communities.³
• Every year, smoking costs the NHS an estimated £2.6 billion.⁴
• Overall societal costs are estimated to be £46 billion annually.⁵

CCA analysis indicates that such a service would help over 225,000 people to quit smoking each year.

Whilst there is some support currently available to help people to stop smoking, these services are not meeting demand, are not available where smokers need them, and are not adequately addressing health inequalities.

Smokers can attend their GP for support however general practice remains under significant pressure – making access to support and the necessary follow-up appointments difficult. Many smoking cessation self-care products are available to purchase over-the-counter but cost can be a barrier to many.

In England, a national smoking cessation service (SCS) exists in community pharmacies but is only available for patients who have started a quit attempt in hospital and want to continue with a community pharmacy of their choice. The national service is vastly underused, with less than 5% of pharmacies receiving referrals from this service⁶, and only 11,728 consultations taking place between April 2024 and March 2025.⁷ Of these, 46% of consultations were recorded in the 20% most deprived communities, reaffirming the need for targeted action in deprived communities where the burden of smoking is highest.

Currently, all local authorities also commission smoking cessation services but not all commission them from pharmacies. At present, patients face a frustrating local postcode lottery, with access criteria varying significantly by patient characteristics, and some, but not all, providing access to prescription-only medicines. In the last financial year, 11,451 people received local authority commissioned support from a pharmacy.

As support and access vary by location, people do not have a clear and consistent route to get help, meaning that those seeking support often face unequal access to services. The current provision also does not address the issue of health inequalities. Data shows that around a third of all smoking adults live in the most deprived areas of the country,⁸ yet support is not reliably available to those in areas of high deprivation.

A nationally-commissioned community pharmacy smoking cessation service would deliver significant benefits for patients and the NHS. It would end the postcode lottery and inconsistent availability of access by creating a single, clear route for patients via the network of over 10,000 pharmacies located on high streets and in local communities. If every pharmacy offered a walk-in service, more than 225,000 people could be supported annually, compared to the current 15,000 – a more than 10-fold increase.

Community pharmacies are ideally positioned to lead this service, particularly in deprived areas where smoking rates are highest, helping to tackle health inequalities. There are more community pharmacies in more deprived areas, where need is often greatest – the ’positive pharmacy care law’.¹⁰

Alongside calling for a nationally-commissioned pharmacy-led smoking cessation service, the CCA report recommends implementing Booking and Referral standards to allow other healthcare professionals to easily refer to community pharmacy; and urges policymakers to support pharmacies to invest in their workforce.

Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive, CCA said:

 “The current system of local commissioning is failing to provide consistent, accessible support to people who want to stop smoking.

A national smoking cessation service commissioned through community pharmacies would end the postcode lottery and help stub out the impact that smoking has on the nation’s health and economy once-and-for all”.

Dr Berkeley Phillips, UK Medical Director, Pfizer UK commented:

“We welcome the publication of the CCA report, ‘Expanding Smoking Cessation Support Through Community Pharmacy’, which highlights the transformative potential of national commissioning and the critical opportunity to broaden access to effective support to quitting smoking. This timely report offers practical measures to effectively support those seeking to quit smoking and take better care of their health.

At Pfizer UK, we are proud to support initiatives that strengthen the role of community pharmacists in smoking cessation. By empowering highly trusted healthcare professionals, and expanding access to high-quality services, this strategic initiative provides a clear roadmap for supporting millions of people each year to stop smoking, making their journey towards better health more accessible and achievable than ever before.

The scale and ambition outlined in this report mark an important step forward for public health. Through harnessing innovation, and collaboration, we can drive lasting improvements in smoking cessation outcomes and help build healthier communities across England.”

Read the CCA’s report on smoking cessation

References

1. NHS Digital, Statistics on Smoking, England 2020 Smoking-related ill health and mortality. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-andinformation/publications/statistical/statistics-on-smoking/statistics-on-smoking-england-2020/part-1-smoking-related-illhealth-and-mortality, 2020.
2. Office for National Statistics. Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2023. [Online] 1 October 2024. [Cited: 21 October 2025.]
3. Deprivation and the impact on smoking prevalence, England and Wales: 2017 to 2021.https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/bulletins/deprivationandtheimpactonsmokingprevalenceenglandandwales/2017to2021, 2023.
4. Public Health England. Cost of smoking to the NHS in England. [Online] 18 July 2017. [Cited: 21 October 2025.] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-smoking-to-the-nhs-in-england 2015/cost-of-smoking-to-the-nhs-inengland-2015.
5. Action on Smoking Health [ASH]. ASH Ready Reckoner January 2025: Costs of smoking to society. [Online] January 2025. [Cited: 21 October 2025.] https://ashresources.shinyapps.io/ready_reckoner/..
6. NHS Business Services Authority. Dispensing Contractors Data. [Online] https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/prescriptiondata/dispensing-data/dispensing-contractors-data, 2025
7. NHS Business Services Authority. Dispensing Contractors Data. [Online] https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/prescriptiondata/dispensing-data/dispensing-contractors-data, 2025
8. Deprivation and the impact on smoking prevalence, England and Wales: 2017 to 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/bulletins/deprivationandtheimpactonsmokingprevalenceenglandandwales/2017to2021, 2023.
9. NHS England, Statistics on Local Stop Smoking Services, England April 2024 to March 2025. [Online] July 2025. [Cited: 21 October 2025.] https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/statistics-on-nhs-stop-smoking-services-inengland/april-2024-to-march-2025-q4-annual.
10. The Positive Pharmacy Care Law revisited: an area-level analysis of the relationship between community pharmacy distribution, urbanicity and deprivation in England. Abozied, E, et al. 2025, BMJ Open, Vol. 15:e095540.