Portsmouth City Council’s Wellbeing Service provides free smoking cessation support through telephone consultations and drop-in sessions across the city, offering personalised help including stop-smoking products and weekly contact with trained advisers.
Flexible Support Options Available
The council’s smoking cessation programme offers multiple ways to access help, with no appointment necessary for drop-in sessions. Smokers are three times more likely to successfully quit with professional support.
Claire from Southsea praised the service’s accessibility: “I really appreciate the drop-in approach and it’s reassuring to know someone is supporting me through this journey.”
Drop-in Session Locations and Times
Somerstown Hub, Winston Churchill Avenue
- Mondays: 4.30pm–7pm
- Wednesdays: 11.30am–2pm
- Fridays: 1–4pm
John Jenkins Stadium, Moneyfield Avenue, Copnor
- Wednesdays: 4-7pm
Paulsgrove Community Centre, Marsden Road
- Thursdays: 4-7pm
Additional sessions run at Tesco Extra, Fratton Way on Mondays from 1-3pm. All sessions are closed on bank holidays.
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Comprehensive Support Package
The service includes weekly telephone contact with qualified tobacco dependency advisors who develop personalised quit plans. Support encompasses stop-smoking products, medication such as patches, gum, lozenges and Cytisine, plus free vapes and e-liquids for those over 18.
Immediate Health Benefits
Quitting smoking delivers rapid health improvements. Within 20 minutes, pulse rates begin normalising. After eight hours, oxygen levels recover and harmful carbon monoxide reduces by half. Within 48 hours, all carbon monoxide clears whilst taste and smell senses improve.
Longer-term benefits include halved heart attack risk within one year and 50% reduced lung cancer death risk after ten years.
Financial and Family Benefits
A 20-cigarette daily smoker saves over £3,000 annually by quitting. Children of smokers are three times more likely to become smokers themselves, with nearly three-quarters worrying about their parents’ smoking-related health risks.
Those unable to attend scheduled sessions can complete a self-referral form online. The wellbeing team will contact individuals to arrange suitable support options.
For more information, visit wellbeingportsmouth.co.uk/stop-smoking/.
