A government pledge to halve the number of smokers over the next 10 years could spell good news for community pharmacy services.

The government promised new smoking cessation services would be developed and PCTs would be supported to increase the percentage of smokers using NHS stop smoking services. A DH spokesperson hinted that pharmacy could have a key role in delivering the additional services. The spokesperson told C+D:  "Pharmacists are a valued partner in our ambitious strategy to help people stop smoking for good. A new stop smoking service will be developed over the next year to work in conjunction with the existing local NHS stop smoking service which is already provided in many pharmacies," they added.

PSNC head of NHS services Alastair Buxton said the committee would like to see smoking cessation services commissioned at a national level for pharmacy. "We have an ongoing push regarding national service provision and the DH is well aware of our views," he said. And he added that the committee would continue to lobby the government to ring-fence funding for smoking cessation.