Does switching from tobacco to reduced-risk products free up hospital resources?

Abstract

Promoting a shift from smoking tobacco to reduced-risk products—such as vapes and heat-not-burn tobacco—has the potential to ease the burden on healthcare resources, particularly health expenditure, if empirical evidence shows that reduced-risk products are an effective smoking cessation tool or can help to mitigate the risk of disease. However, there are notable variations in needs and provision of healthcare services between different regions. This article will explore this heterogeneity with the aim of understanding the different health impacts of switching from smoking to reduced-risk products across England, assessing the potential savings for the NHS and potential progress towards the goal of the country becoming smoke-free. This exploratory analysis of different sources of variation across regions offers policy insights to motivate further research.