The CSP has welcomed the government’s announcement that new legislation will ban the sale and supply of disposable vapes and change the age of sale for all tobacco products in the UK - but we are continuing to call on the government to provide more funding for pulmonary rehab services.
Disposable vapes are set to be banned in the UK, under new legislation that was announced by the government last week.
The regulatory changes, which aim to tackle the rise in youth vaping and protect children’s health, will also see a change to the age of sale for all tobacco products, cigarette papers and herbal smoking products – meaning that nobody born on or after 1 January 2009 will ever legally be sold tobacco products.
Commenting on the plans, Brynnen Ririe, the CSP's public affairs lead, said: ‘Physiotherapists who specialise in respiratory care, heart disease, stroke and cancer see the effects of smoking in their patients and their families, so we welcome the government's announcement.
Alongside the regulatory changes, we would also like to see investment in pulmonary rehabilitation to ensure equitable access to rehab for people with chronic respiratory disease such as COPD
‘Only 37 per cent of eligible patients receive their recommended rehab - a key to improving quality of life, keeping patients out of hospital, and increasing the likelihood that they'll stop smoking.’
The planned changes to the law follow feedback gathered during a UK-wide consultation, titled Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, which the government conducted in October last year.
The CSP submitted a series of recommendations to the consultation, including that the government should consider increasing investment in and access to pulmonary rehabilitation, as well as introducing their current smokefree proposals.
We also called on the government to:
- Improve GP and primary care teams' knowledge of the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation to increase rates and quality of referrals.
- Provide equitable access to pulmonary rehabilitation for people with respiratory disease, including COPD and other chronic respiratory conditions.
- And increase access to pulmonary rehabilitation by investing more in the pulmonary rehabilitation workforce, including advanced practice roles, delivered through regional respiratory networks via Integrated Care Boards.
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