My local Smoke Stop service is organised by Bournemouth and Poole NHS but I'm sure there are similar services in other NHS areas.
The idea is that you make an appointment to speak to a trained counsellor who advises you on the various options available to help you give up smoking. The initial consultation generally lasts half an hour, further appointments after that come in blocks of 15 minutes.
My initial half hour consultation was at 4.15pm on Friday 13th May (I'm not superstitious about that combination of day and date!). But, because I'd done all my homework, it only lasted 15 minutes. Rather than the guy go through the options, I him exactly what I wanted - which was nicotine replacement therapy (patches and an inhalator) rather than the pills (Champix or Zyban) that screw about with your head.
But, before he would give me a prescription, I had to set a Quit Date and tell him what it was. I hadn't actually thought about that - all I wanted was the script so I lied and gave him a quit date of Friday 27th May, because that is a long Bank Holiday weekend. I fully intended to start the process of giving up smoking before then!
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