Latest Study: If Half of Smokers Switch to Vaping, the UK Could Save Over £500 Million in Healthcare

A latest study published in the British Journal of Healthcare Management by Brunel University London shows that switching to e-cigarettes could save the UK’s National Health Service hundreds of millions of pounds in costs. Below is a summary of the key findings of the study:
Key Point 1: Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and premature death in England.
- Approximately 74,600 people die each year due to smoking.
- Between 2019 and 2020, an estimated 506,100 hospital admissions were related to smoking.
Key Point 2: Smoking is estimated to cost the UK National Health Service (NHS) as much as £2.5 billion per year.
- To reduce this burden, the government announced in 2019 its goal of making England “smoke-free” by 2030.
Key Point 3: To achieve this goal, the UK government encourages smokers either to quit smoking or switch to lower-risk reduced-risk products (RRP), such as heated tobacco products or vapor products.
Key Point 4: Professor Francesco Moscone, an expert in business economics at Brunel University London, conducted new research assessing the potential savings for the NHS if some smokers switch to RRPs.
- The five major categories of smoking-related disease include cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.
- Although the long-term effects of RRPs are still unknown, previous studies have already shown that alternatives to conventional cigarettes can reduce exposure to key health-risk chemicals by 90%.
- If half of smokers switched to RRPs, the NHS could save about £518 million per year.
- If the switching rate were only 10%, the NHS could still save £103 million annually.
Key Point 5: Geographic differences were also taken into account.
- The number of lung cancer patients in the North and Yorkshire is nearly twice that of other regions in England.
- If 10% of smokers in that region switched to RRPs, the NHS would save a total of £30 million; if half of smokers switched, the savings could reach £148 million.
Key Point 6: Without further action, England will not achieve its smoke-free target by 2030, and in the poorest areas this timeline could be delayed until 2044.
Key Point 7: Professor Moscone called for greater recognition of the potential of RRPs, a firm commitment to achieving the 2030 smoke-free target, and the use of innovation to save substantial healthcare resources.