HSE Has No Resources Or Funding to Help Vapers Quit
HSE Has No Resources Or Funding to Help Vapers Quit
Text: Izzy Copestake
“The State has a responsibility to support people, especially young people, who want to quit.”
People trying to quit vaping are being turned away from Ireland’s stop smoking services due to a lack of funding and direction from the Department of Health, the HSE has confirmed.
Despite a growing number of users seeking help, the HSE says it “does not have capacity to deliver stop vaping care and [is] not resourced to do so,” according to Martina Blake, head of the HSE’s Tobacco Free Ireland Programme.
Staff are reportedly increasingly seeing people who either vape exclusively or use e-cigarettes alongside tobacco. However, the stop smoking services are not equipped to support them, as “the HSE has not been directed or funded by the Department of Health to develop a stop vaping service.”
Labour TD Marie Sherlock has called on the Minister for Health to act urgently ahead of a Dáil debate today focused on youth vaping. “The State has a responsibility to support people, especially young people, who want to quit,” she said.
New laws to tackle youth vaping are on the way, with a Dáil debate on the issue scheduled for later today. The Department of Health has confirmed that legislation to ban single-use vapes and limit flavours and packaging is currently being drafted by the Attorney General’s office, and a spokesperson for the Department of Health confirmed that these measures have been prioritised for publication this year.
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