To mark National No Smoking Day, we are coordinating a nationwide Quitathon across our partner local authorities and stop smoking services, with the ambition of generating record numbers of supported quit attempts.
The Quitathon is a coordinated effort running in the lead up to National No Smoking Day, culminating in a concentrated drive to encourage smokers to Joining the Big Quit and set a quit date on or immediately before the day itself.
A System-Wide Focus on Quit Attempts
Evidence consistently shows that smokers are significantly more likely to quit successfully when supported by specialist behavioural support combined with pharmacotherapy or nicotine replacement options. National No Smoking Day provides a powerful, culturally recognised trigger for quit attempts.
The Quitathon is designed to:
- Increase the volume of supported quit attempts
- Maximise engagement across priority populations
- Strengthen partnership working across health and community settings
- Generate local momentum through coordinated communications and outreach
- Provide measurable impact data for participating areas
Supporting Local Delivery
By aligning messaging, outreach activity and data collection, the Quitathon enables local areas to contribute to a nationally visible effort while retaining flexibility to target local priorities and address health inequalities.
Why This Matters
Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of morbidity and premature mortality, disproportionately affecting routine and manual workers, people with long-term conditions, and those experiencing mental ill health.
Generating high volumes of supported quit attempts at scale is one of the most effective interventions available to reduce health inequalities, prevent future demand on NHS services, and improve long-term population health outcomes.
We look forward to working with our partner services to make this the largest coordinated National No Smoking Day effort to date.
For further information about participating in the Quitathon, please contact [email protected]
