A CAMPAIGN has been launched across Greater Manchester to help thousands of residents stop smoking.

The “Never Quit Quitting” campaign will be on TV and radio stations and will include the experiences of former smokers.

The adverts have been released following Public Health England research found six in 10 smokers want to quit.

The statistics also show four in 10 plan to quit this year.

But it can also take a smoker on average 30 attempts before they give up successfully.

The campaign is being launched by the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership to inspire people to quit smoking and get healthier, wealthier, sooner.

While highlighting the serious health risks of smoking, the focus is on encouraging smokers to increase their chances of quitting by using a combination of personalised support and stop smoking aids, as experienced by other residents.

Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership’s interim chief officer, Sarah Price, said: “Across Greater Manchester record numbers of people are quitting smoking successfully.

"While this is fantastic news, we want to empower and support even more people to join them.

"We’re committed to making smoking history in Greater Manchester and have launched our brand new ‘Never Quit Quitting’ campaign to help us achieve our ambitious goal.”

Greater Manchester’s Making Smoking History strategy was launched in 2017 to reduce smoking prevalence across the population and reduce the risk of cancer, heart-disease and other long-term health conditions.

Since then, it has helped to improve the health, wellbeing, and wealth of thousands of residents and their families.

Dr Murugesan Raja, a Manchester GP and clinical lead for respiratory medicine, said: “I completely understand how hard it is to give up smoking, and sometimes it takes more than one attempt to quit forever.

"Myself and my colleagues will always want to help no matter whether this is your first attempt, or you have tried many times before.

"It is never too late to quit smoking, but it’s not too early to start either.

"Whenever you give up smoking, it will be good for your health.

“If you don’t succeed straight away, it doesn’t mean you never will.

"Every quit attempt is one step closer to quitting for good.

"And there are very real health benefits that start almost immediately when you stop smoking.

“There’s lots of help and support out there for people who want to quit.

"Even if you’ve tried to quit before, don’t be put off trying again.

"The right advice, support and motivation can help you to quit and stay quit, so talk to your GP, local pharmacy or stop smoking service and never quit quitting.”

To get free access to the latest quitting aids, apps, information, one-to-one advice and support in Greater Manchester visit www.makesmokinghistory.co.uk.