This week has brought good news from the NHS, who have revealed that a record number of people have quit smoking last year.

The NHS Information Centre confirmed that 373,964 people had successfully quit smoking. This figure is an 11% increase from the 337,054 figure from the year before. It is estimated that the cost, per quitter, amounted to around £224.

This increase in the amount of smokers follows recent trends. Since the smoking ban was introduced in 2007, the amount of people in England has been positive. However, recent figures released by the British Heart Foundation have suggested that the percentage of adult smokers is still around 21%.

These successful results appear to be a product of increased funding. NHS stop smoking services spent an extra £10 million last year, compared to the year before. This means that the total amount of money spent on the services came up to around £84 million. Overall, smoking is thought to cost the government around £2.7 billion, annually.

Of all the patients that took part in smoking cessation schemes, 65% chose to use nicotine gum and patches to attempt to battle their addiction. Around 23% of the patients chose to use medication to attempt to stop smoking.

The figures found that the most successful smoking cessation method was the stop-smoking drug, Champix. Around 6 in 10 of all smokers who used Champix were about to kick the habit. Under half of the smokers who chose to rely on their own will power were able to quit smoking.

“Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of death in England. NHS doctors, nurses and health professionals in local stop-smoking services are dedicated to tackling smoking” said health secretary Andrew Lansley. “Over 50 years, we have halved the proportion of adults who smoked”.