Salford’s Angel Centre offers free way to quit smoking

A Salford community centre has introduced a new method for residents to help curb their smoking.

The Angel Centre, Chapel Street, is offering a free e-cigarette to Salford residents who want to quit.

The offer is a part of the Salford Stop Smoking campaign.

Service director Kate Simpson said members had begun to use other sources to help with their nicotine addiction.

She said: “People weren’t coming to us anymore. They were going to the shops to buy an e-cig.

“We were concerned about the ethics of that, as a lot of the e-cigarette companies are owned by big tobacco companies, so we wanted to offer something that was ethical.

“We also wanted to make sure people were finding the right cigarette to help them on their quit journey.”

The new device, which usually retails for £25, uses a ceramic coil, which means users will obtain a larger hit of nicotine from a smaller dosage.

Do you want to quit smoking for good? We have been helping the people of Salford on their journey to stop smoking for the past 2 years. We now have a NEW device to help with this. Please visit https://t.co/eCzKoXZrUA to find out more. pic.twitter.com/EHpMDn7Gqm

— The Angel Centre (@AngelSalford) December 4, 2018

The 38-year-old explained that nicotine patches had been trialed, but the success rate was far lower than e-cigarettes.

“Traditional smoking services such as patches get about a seven per cent success rate, but by doing our trial we had a 24 per cent success rate.”

A month of free care is also offered for those who want to quit, which Ms Simpson believes is just as important as the device.

She said: “The support is important as well, people would come to us and say I’ve been using my e-cigarette and I’d usually smoke 20 a week, but I’ve still smoked 10 that’s bad.

“We’d take readings to see their lung capacity and they’d see a massive fall and that would really drive them.”

Ms Simpson also explained how the Salford public have accepted the programme.

“People have been really positive and positive they can get something that works.

“At the end of the day, it is an addiction and sometimes I think that’s forgotten, people can’t just quit.”

The cigarette will be shown off around Salford throughout January.

More information can be found at www.theangelcentre.org.uk