NHS: Vapes could save health service half a billion pounds a year

Half of England’s adult smokers making a switch to e-cigarettes could save the NHS more than £500m per year, a study has claimed.

Researchers at Brunel University London used data from NHS Digital, the Royal College of Physicians and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to identify the prevalence of smoking in each region.

They found that between 2019 and 2021, 13.6 per cent of people aged 18 and over in England smoked. The lowest rate of smokers is in the south east (12.2 per cent) compared to 14.1 per cent in the midlands, 14.6 per cent in the north west and 15 per cent in the north east and Yorkshire.

The study, published in the British Journal of Healthcare Management, suggests that if 50 per cent of those people were to switch to e-cigarettes, hospital admissions would reduce by 13 per cent, translating to savings of £518m.

The figure was calculated by looking at data relating to smoking as a cause of death, as well as the risk of developing five diseases as a result of the habit – cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

The research team calculated total health expenditure by multiplying average ward costs per bed day for a specific disease by the mean length of stay in hospital for that disease. In the North East and Yorkshire alone, half of smokers switching to a vape could save £148m, researchers said.

Professor Francesco Moscone, a business economics expert from Brunel University London, said: “Such illnesses put significant burdens on the NHS, which we know is already under increasing pressure.”

He added that while the long-term impact of vapes are still unknown, previous research has shown they “result in a 90% reduction in the exposure to chemicals that are major contributors to health risks”.

In 2019, the government outlined its ambition to make England “smoke free” by 2030. It also launched a “swap to stop” campaign in April, offering one millions smokers vapes to encourage them to quit cigarettes.

Prof Moscone said “embracing the transition” from cigarettes to vapes “would present a crucial opportunity for us to regain momentum and align with our ambitious 2030 plan”.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), added: “This study provides further evidence that by providing one million vapes to smokers to help them quit, the Government’s ‘swap to stop’ campaign would help reduce pressure on our overstretched NHS.

“However, although smoking costs the NHS well over £2bn a year, the biggest benefit to public finances from reductions in smoking won’t be to the NHS, but in reductions in spending on social security and social care due to smoking, which together amount to more than double the cost of smoking to the NHS.”

Ms Arnott said “inaccurate beliefs about the harms” of vaping are a “barrier to smokers” and “must be urgently addressed”. It comes amid concerns from a number of organisations about the trend of young people and children using e-cigarettes, with calls mounting for tighter regulations on their marketing and packaging.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said while vaping is a “preferable alternative to smoking for adults”, they do have concerns “about the rise in youth vaping”.