The Stop Smoking Service said it is "delighted" to be able to offer the new option to help smokers aged 18 and over who want to quit.

Quitline's Stop Smoking Service Manager, Andrea Tostevin said that appointments are available at varying times and locations across the week so staff can meet smokers to work out the best course of action for them.

She said there is increasing evidence that vapes are "both a popular and successful way of quitting smoking".

It's reported that people who quit this way can be far more successful when they vape alongside ongoing support, such as that provided through Quitline.

Pictured: Andrea Tostevin, Quitline.

While it's acknowledged that vaping is still a relatively new product, ongoing research continues to show them to be "a far less harmful alternative to smoking".

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) currently recommends that vapes should be one of the options offered to adult smokers who are looking to quit. It says that "this should be offered alongside all the currently licensed medicinal products and along with clear advice on use of the devices, including how to stop using them".

This will all be included as part of the support offered through Quitline.

Pictured: A recent study supporting evidence that giving up sooner, is better for smokers was supported by Guernsey's Health Improvement Commission.

A new study recently found evidence that smokers can cut their risk of dying prematurely by up to 90% if they quit the habit before the age of 45. 

Giving up cigarettes 10 years earlier - before the age of 35 - was shown more or less to eliminate the additional mortality risk associated with continuing to smoke.

The study of 551,338 participants was carried out in the United States between 1997 and 2019. It was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last month.

Guernsey's Health Improvement Commission, which also runs services to help people give up smoking, said the study seemed credible and presented important and interesting findings.

"The Journal of the American Medical Association, where the study appears, is a well-regarded, peer-reviewed medical journal. The main analyses featured 551,388 participants in the US - a large cohort - and the analyses were adjusted for a number of factors which could have confounded the relationship between smoking and mortality," said the Commission.

"From a methods perspective, this study is useful because it focuses on the health outcomes associated with quitting smoking as well as never smoking or being a current smoker. It also features a diverse range of racial or ethnic groups as well as men and women and analysed associations by these groups. 

"From a findings perspective, a particularly interesting finding is that quitting smoking before the age of 45 was associated with reductions of approximately 90% of the excess mortality risk associated with continued smoking. In simple terms, quitting by middle age is hugely beneficial to people’s health."

Pictured: The study underlined that the benefits of quitting smoking are not restricted to younger people.

The study also found that "quitting [smoking] at ages 45 to 64 was associated with reductions of approximately 66% of excess risk".

The Commission said this underlined that giving up smoking has substantial health benefits at any age.

"Those of us who smoke can see that giving up really has a positive impact on overall heath," it said.

"If you are a smoker, then quitting at a younger age gives the largest gains, but rather than worrying if it is too late to quit it is clear that there are major health gains from quitting even when older."

Pictured: This graph shows how the rate of smoking in Britain has declined significantly since the early 1970s.

To support those who want to give up smoking, Ms Tostevin said "Quitline can now offer pre- booked appointments, either one to one or for small groups of friends or family at different times of day and at clinics around the island".

Support to quit and information on all stop smoking medications and vapes is available directly from Quitline by calling 220021 (answer phone), emailing quitline@gov.gg or messaging via Facebook.

More information about the Commission's tobacco support services can be found by clicking HERE.