Pharmacies continue to have the lowest stop smoking rates among NHS providers in England, according to the latest NHS Stop Smoking figures.

The figures, which looked at quit rates from April to September 2010, indicated a 44 per cent success rate among pharmacy patients. Quit rates were higher among other providers such as hospital wards and prisons, with military bases coming out top at 58 per cent.

However, the overall number of successful quitters using pharmacies increased to 4,200 a month between April and September 2010, up from 4,000 in the data released in August 2010.

The latest figures also showed pharmacy helped over 25,000 people to quit in the six months leading up to September 2010, which represented 16 per cent of quitters using NHS services.

Pharmacies were previously found to have the lowest quit rates in the Stop Smoking figures leading up to June 2010.

Responding at that time, PSNC’s head of NHS services Alastair Buxton said pharmacists should review their internal procedures and consider potential improvements. He also explained pharmacists may be supporting harder-to-reach patients than other providers.

“Without looking more carefully at the type of clients accessing services, it’s very difficult to make comparisons because some patients will be easier to support,” he told C+D.