Key Summary
- The CCA says the Tobacco and Vapes Act will protect future generations from taking up smoking, but more action is needed to support 4.4 million people who still smoke.
- Despite around 50% of community pharmacies being signed up to the national NHS smoking cessation service, between January and June 2026 less 2% conducted a consultation.
- The CCA wants the government to develop and rollout a national framework for a Community Pharmacy Stop Smoking Service.
The government had in 2019 set out an ambition for England to become 'smokefree' by 2030 - when adult smoking prevalence falls to 5% or less.
The CCA said the Tobacco and Vapes Act will protect future generations by stopping them from starting smoking, but more action is needed to support the roughly 4.4 million people in England who still smoke.
This will also drive down the estimated £1.77 billion spent annually by the NHS treating smoking related conditions and the £14.8bn spent on social care.
In its latest report, "Maximising community pharmacy’s contribution to smokefree ambitions in England", the CCA said the potential of community pharmacy to help more people quit remains untapped.
The report said that pharmacies are "ideally placed to help people stop smoking" as they have a good presence in deprived areas, where nearly a third of all smokers reside.
However the report lamented that "disjointed and variable commissioning of pharmacy-based stop smoking support by local authorities across England has created a postcode lottery of access."
It said that consistent commissioning of stop smoking services through community pharmacies would help the government achieve its ambition of a smokefree future.
Pharmacy role limited
The national NHS Advanced Community Pharmacy Smoking Cessation Service currently relies on hospital referrals, limiting the number of patients who can access support through their local pharmacy.
Despite around 50% of community pharmacies being signed up to the national NHS smoking cessation service, between January and June 2026 less 2% conducted a consultation.
Locally commissioned services vary significantly across England, creating inconsistent access for patients and complexity for pharmacy providers.
The CCA is calling for the commissioning of a nationally consistent, three-tier model to support the ambition for a smokefree future.
This would enable community pharmacies to play a greater role in the smoking cessation pathway, alongside existing NHS, local authority and specialist services.
The proposed model would:- Maximise existing routes to identify people who smoke, provide them with advice, and refer them to appropriate support.
- Establish a national medicines supply framework to enable participating pharmacies to supply nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and prescription-only stop smoking medication.
- Develop and rollout a national framework for a Community Pharmacy Stop Smoking Service.
This would reduce variance and empower local authorities and NHS partners to provide additional support to meet local need.
This approach would provide consistent patient pathways, standards and funding models. It would also ensure that enhanced support services are targeted where they are most needed, rather than requiring every pharmacy to deliver the full service.
75,000 deaths a year
Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death in England, accounting for around 75,000 deaths a year.
It damages every organ in the body and is responsible for around 72% of lung cancer cases, as well as causing a least a dozen types of other cancers.
Smoking also puts individuals at greater risk of heart disease, strokes and blindness.
However, when they quit smoking the risk of heart attack drops by half compared to a smoker in a year. In ten years, the risk of lung cancer falls to half that of a smoker.
Viatris and Teva UK Limited had supported CCA in the development of this report. This included sponsorship of the cross-sector working group, administration and secretariat costs and the publication of this report.
A missed opportunity: Harrison
Company Chemists’ Association Chief Executive Malcolm Harrison said: “With millions of adults still smoking, it’s imperative that policymakers use all levers at their disposal – including community pharmacies – to support people to quit smoking once and for all.
"Community pharmacies are ideally placed to help more people quit smoking, particularly in deprived areas where smoking rates are often the highest. Yet the current system is making it unnecessarily difficult for pharmacies to deliver the support people who smoke need.
"It cannot be right that around half of pharmacies have signed up to the national NHS service, but less than 2% are receiving referrals for patient consultations. This is a missed opportunity to help more people quit smoking.
"If the government is serious about achieving its smokefree ambitions and tackling health inequalities, it must remove the barriers preventing community pharmacy from playing its full part.”
Expand choices to quit smoking: NCSCT
National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) Chief Executive Dr Andy McEwen said: “The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) strongly supports choice for people who smoke: what they use to quit, where they go for support and what that support should look like.
"This report recommends expanding the range of choices, and we commend the role of community pharmacy in the tobacco dependence treatment landscape.”
Involve pharmacy technicians: APTUK
Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) said: “APTUK welcomes the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) report, Maximising Community Pharmacy’s Contribution to Smokefree Ambitions in England, and its recognition of the important role community pharmacy can play in achieving England’s smokefree ambitions.
"Pharmacy technicians are integral to delivering accessible, person-centred care and have a significant contribution to make in supporting smoking cessation, from early intervention and prevention through to medicines optimisation and ongoing patient support.
"To fully realise this potential, we must recognise and utilise the skills of the whole pharmacy team, supported by appropriate education, training, clear pathways and sustainable commissioning arrangements.
"By empowering pharmacy technicians to practise to their full potential, we can strengthen community pharmacy’s contribution to prevention, improve access to smoking cessation services and help reduce health inequalities across our communities.”
Smoking a health concern: Gregg
National Pharmacy Association Chief Executive Henry Gregg said: "This report rightly highlights that pharmacies are being scandalously underutilised to provide stop smoking services to patients, with less than 2 per cent of pharmacies signed up to provide stop smoking services conducting a consultation in the first half of the year.
"Without urgent action, the government will miss its target to create a Smokefree generation by 2030.
"Smoking remains one of the biggest health challenges facing the country. 1 in 10 adults smoke and smoking continues to be the single biggest preventable cause of death in the UK.
"Pharmacy led stop smoking services are a low cost but highly effective way of supporting patients to quit smoking and improve their health.
"The government should remove barriers in place from allowing pharmacies to play their full part in this effort, simplifying commissioning arrangements and encouraging more patients to make greater use of support services available on their doorsteps."
