HELP for people who want to quit smoking is set to be rationed by York council chiefs in the wake of Government public health funding cuts.

A City of York Council report recommends that only pregnant women and financially disadvantaged people should in future be given free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT).

Until March, all patients accessing stop smoking services were given NRT free of charge as part of a universal offer but health improvement manager Philippa Press says the offer should now be targeted to ensure the maximum benefit by focusing on those with the highest need.

"The review of the service has been undertaken against a background of increasing financial constraints with cuts to the local authority Public Health Grant Allocation imposed by the Department of Health," she said in the report to a decision session for the executive member for adult social care and health, Cllr Carol Runciman.

"In City of York, the cuts to the Public Health Budget already made in 2015/16 and 2016/17 amount to £1.2 million."

She recommends NRT should be provided free of charge for 12 weeks to pregnant women receiving stop smoking support services and for two weeks to financially disadvantaged people. She says this would provide interim support, with the expectation they would subsequently fund NRT themselves.The total cost to the council of providing the NRT would be £17,988.

"The risks of smoking during pregnancy are very serious and include premature delivery to low birth weight, miscarriage, still birth and sudden infant death," she said. "Quitting smoking is the best thing a pregnant woman can do for herself and her baby."

She said the council gave other help, such as advice, information and guidance to support smokers to quit smoking and had signed up to ‘Breathe 2025’, a campaign aimed at inspiring a smoke free generation’.

She added that only one in eight 15-year-olds now smoked and the proportion of young smokers was dropping. "Within the next decade, there could be a generation of children that don't smoke."