One in 20 hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a smoking related illness, according to new figures.
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Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) revealed that every day, 1,260 adults aged 35 and over are admitted to hospital due to smoking.
There were an estimated 460,000 hospital admissions attributable to smoking between 2010 and 2011.
Of these, 126,000 had a respiratory disease, 160,300 had a smoking-related cancer, and 135,400 were diagnosed with circulatory disease. HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan said:
"These figures present in stark terms the impact smoking has on people's individual health and NHS services.”
However, the figures also showed that more people in the country are trying to quit. Between 2011 and 2012, 816,000 set a quit date with NHS Stop Smoking Services, a rise of 4 per cent on the previous year.
Amanda Sandford, research manager at charity Action on Smoking and Health, said: "Taken together the statistics on hospital admissions due to smoking and those seeking help to quit show just how much smokers want to quit, yet how hard it is to do so.
"Smoking is still by far the biggest single cause of preventable illness and premature death."
"Helping adults to quit should remain a priority of the NHS but we also need to have measures in place such as a ban on the promotional features on cigarette packs if we are to stop the next generation from being hooked on this deadly addiction."
Your smoking status is likely to affect your life insurance, income protection insurance and health insurance premiums- smokers usually have to pay more. Go 12 months tobacco free to be considered a non-smoker.
© ActiveQuote Health Ltd. 2012