Half of England's adult smokers making the switch to e-cigarettes could save the NHS more than £500 million per year, a study has claimed. Researchers at Brunel University London used data from NHS Digital, the Royal College of Physicians, and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to identify the prevalence of smoking in each region.

They found that between 2019 and 2021, 13.6% of people aged 18 and over in England smoked. The lowest rate of smokers is in the south east (12.2%), compared to 14.1% in the midlands, 14.6% in the north west, and 15% in the north east and Yorkshire.

The study, published in the British Journal of Healthcare Management, suggests that if 50% of those people were to switch to e-cigarettes, hospital admissions would reduce by 13%, translating to savings of £518 million.

The figure was calculated by looking at data relating to smoking as a cause of death as well as the risk of developing five diseases as a result of the habit: cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. The research team calculated total health expenditure by multiplying average ward costs per bed day for a specific disease by the mean length of stay in hospital for that disease. In the North East and Yorkshire alone, half of smokers switching to a vape could save £148 million, researchers said.

In 2019, the UK government outlined its ambition to make England smoke-free by 2030. It also launched a "swap to stop" campaign in April, offering one million smokers vapes to encourage them to quit cigarettes.