PUBLIC health bosses are being urged to put tens of thousands of pounds back into services to help people quit smoking in York.

As The Press reported earlier this month, the number of people getting help to kick the habit in York has fallen dramatically since funding was pulled for things like free nicotine patches.

City of York Council figures show the number of people who used the service and were still smoke-free four weeks later fell from 366 to 2015/16 to just 33 in 2016/17 - a drop of more than 90 per cent. Between 2014/15 and last year, that figure for pregnant women fell from 30 to just seven - even though they can still get the free help.

Last week councillors on a health committee discussed the shock figures, and urged council chiefs to restart the services either from public health budgets or by finding the money elsewhere.

Cllr Stuart Barnes warned that without doing that, the council would only be storing up problems for the future.

“It might be a short-term saving, but it’s a fools economy.

“Any saving is just going to come back and bite us tenfold in the form of aggravated conditions in acute care or other forms of care.”

The committee asked for the cut to be reversed three months ago, and Cllr Barnes and other councillors agreed they would repeat their request.

The committee had heard from council director of health Martin Farran, who said York’s drop-off had been higher than expected but the same had happened in other parts of the country.

He also said York has a particular problem with young adult women either increasing smoking rates or “stubbornly staying the same”, while smoking rates are dropping in other groups. He also pointed out that public health funding for York is 136th worst out of 152, so the city has “limited resources”.