As No Smoking Day approaches, Hounslow Primary Care Trust (PCT) is working to help its patients with free programmes aimed at the seriously nicotine-addicted.

The courses, which last six weeks, are free of charge and try to deal with the various issues surrounding giving up smoking, varying from mental issues to physical withdrawal.

Service manager Carol Alexander said: "The first session is an introductory session.

"The programme will combine willpower, motivational support and different types of medication.

"The client will then go away and prepare themselves for their quit date, which is usually the second session.

"They come back for the second session and the adviser and support facilitator will give advice on how to deal with the craving. At every session they attend, they will be asked to blow into a carbon dioxide monitor. If they're not smoking, the levels will go down. For example, at the beginning it could be 11-2 but by the end, hopefully, it will be 0-6, which is normal for a non-smoker.

"Sessions three to six are spent giving support and trying to keep them motivated, asking questions about how they're getting on with the medication, trying to encourage them to keep going.

"The first four weeks are the difficult part, finding out if they've got problems with the medication and changing it if need be."

So far, the programmes have achieved a 60 per cent success rate thanks to the structured one-on-one sessions the trust provides.

Ms Alexander said that Hounslow provided a variety of other services for those trying to quit.

She said: "We've also got pharmacists trained throughout Hounslow and Ealing. "They see a lot of people, because for the clients, it's often more local to them. They often choose to go to the pharmacist. Other people - in GPs' practices - are trained as well. Nurses are quite popular, because they've got access to the patients, there's more localised access. Those people still work for the service as community advisers."