HEALTH experts are hoping to persuade 15,000 Dorset smokers to quit the habit by 2030 -roughly halving the number in the county addicted to tobacco.

The next phase will be a Stoptober publicity campaign in the coming weeks.

Dr Stuart Burley, head of programmes for public health, told the county's health and wellbeing board meeting in Dorchester (on Wednesday) that smoking remained responsible for 1,000 premature deaths each year in the county and over 7,000 hospital admissions.

He told councillors that there was a national groundswell at the moment to tackle the problem and Dorset now had a wide range of services which would help quitters.

Dr Burley said that more awareness about those services would help – but acknowledged that some groups, where smoking rates were highest, such as rough sleepers, were often difficult to reach.

He said that around 30,700 people still smoke in Dorset – the single largest avoidable cause of illness, disability and early death.

The public health expert said that the national raising of the legal age for tobacco sales was likely to be of great help – with those born from 2009 onwards being never legally able to buy tobacco products.

He said the success in reaching a figure of only 5%, or less, of the population smoking by 2030 would depend on local leadership and partnership working in supporting more people to quit.

He said Dorset already had a strong range of support available from a range of partners – the number of pathways being important in finding the right support for a quitter at the right time.

He said the county had been the first in South West to trial an online service and digital support, to great effect, the Swap 2 Stop campaign of 2024/25 being one of the most successful in the county.

The meeting heard that there had also been successes in the county within mental health services by using vapes, and with a programme to persuade pregnant women to quit smoking which was showing good results.