Jump to full article: This is South Wales (uk) (Evening Post), 2009-10-05
Intro: HEALTH problems caused by smoking cost the NHS more than £1 million a day, a Swansea-based study out today says.
A report commissioned by the anti-smoking charity Ash and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) says an estimated £386million was spent tackling smoking-related diseases in 2007/08.
The bill is more than enough to pay for the UK's swine flu vaccinations.
Smoking accounted for 22 per cent of the cost of adult hospital admissions and more than £43million worth of GP consultations, according to the report's author, Professor Ceri Phillips of Swansea University.
The charities said nearly a quarter of Welsh adults smoke. The habit claims the lives of 6,000 people in Wales every year.
ASH Wales chief Tanya Buchanan said smoking was also depriving the economy of millions through sickness absence.
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