FIGURES released today reveal how smoking is adding to the social care crisis, both locally and nationally.

For anyone who is still resisting the need to stop smoking, if the benefits to personal health are not sufficient, surely the latest figures should be enough to convince them that smoking is a huge drain on society and health resources.

As reported previously, there is already a massive cost to the NHS for dealing with smoking-related illnesses which, if wiped out, would make a huge difference to the health service’s ability to provide frontline services.

But the latest figures reveal the problem is much wider, with the alarming amount of costs for social care adding to a care crisis created by the pressures associated with a rapidly ageing population and a shortage of funds to provide what’s required.

The new statistics act as yet another very persuasive strand of evidence that smoking is not only bad for the individual but for society in general.

With that in mind, it’s vital that the Government, the NHS and local councils pull together to make sure the stop smoking message hits home, otherwise this is a problem that will only worsen in the years to come.

Preventing people from needing care in the first place has to be the over-riding aim and there’s no question that reducing smoking can play an important part in reaching that goal, subsequently minimising the costs of care to councils while also improving the quality of life for smokers who quit.