an easy way to save £84.3 million per year

The Mirror reports

The number of people trying to quit smoking via NHS services has roughly trebled in the last decade but success rates have fallen, figures show.

In 2010/11, there were almost 788,000 "quit dates" set with NHS stop smoking services, with almost 384,000 successful attempts. In 2001/02, there were just 227,000 quit dates set and fewer than 120,000 successful attempts.

Over a 10 year period the number of people successfully quitting by using the service has trebled. With that level of knowledge and experience they must have found ways to make it hugely efficient?

the total amount spent on England's NHS stop smoking services in 2010/11 was £84.3 million, almost £60 million more than a decade ago.

So the cost has quadrupled while the success rates have only tripled. Inflation has probably affected the efficiency but I bet spending all of our money on this service has reduced the overall percentage of smokers in the population?

"The latest figures show that the percentage of adults who smoke has not changed since 2007"

Ah, so throwing money at a personal health choice isn't changing the number of smokers. Surely the NHS will stop wasting cash in these austere times?

"So we must go further to reduce smoking rates. That's why in March we published our plans to help drive down smoking rates and reduce the harms from tobacco over the next five years."

Ah, no. They want to throw even more money at making people quit smoking when the money they've already thrown hasn't changed the situation. I guess that's because

A spokesman for the Department of Health said smoking was one of the biggest challenges in public health.

there is still this assumption that the risks that individuals choose to take with their own health are somehow a public issue.

Why are we paying £84 million per year for a service that is not even having the desired impact that its supporters think they want? It's insane.