Stop Smoking Help in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

If you live in the UK outside England, the help you need is a free call away, but it goes by a different name in each nation. This guide covers Quit Your Way Scotland, Help Me Quit in Wales and Stop Smoking NI in Northern Ireland: what each one offers, how to get in touch and what to expect. Most guides to NHS stop smoking help are written around England, so this one sticks to what the services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland say about themselves.

The Short Answer: Free Help Exists in All Three Nations

Each nation runs its own service, funded through its own health system, so the name, phone number and sign-up route differ. What they share is the model: a trained adviser, a quit plan built around you and access to stop smoking medication.

Numbers and opening hours can change, so confirm them on the official pages linked in each section below before you call. If you are in England, see our separate guide to NHS stop smoking services explained instead.

Scotland: Quit Your Way

NHS inform describes it this way: “Quit Your Way Scotland is an advice and support service for anyone trying to stop smoking in Scotland.” It is “run by NHS 24 on behalf of the Scottish Government” and staffed by trained advisers who can give you personalized advice (NHS inform).

A note on how current this is: the NHS inform website blocks automated page checks, so the Scotland details in this guide were read from archived copies of its pages, dated May 2026 for the helpline page, January 2026 for the local help page and February 2025 for the medication page. Check the live pages before you call.

Three ways to reach the helpline

• Phone: 0800 84 84 84. NHS inform says the helpline is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
• Webchat: open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, if an adviser is available.
• Text: text ‘Quit Your Way’ and your question to 07903 588 669. The page notes that you must include a question in your text.

According to NHS inform, the service can help you get ready to stop in a way that suits you, talk through the stop smoking medication available to you, offer support while you are trying to stop and refer you to free local NHS services. It also states that Quit Your Way Scotland has no minimum age limit and that it will not send you letters without your consent.

Pharmacy and local support

Scotland leans heavily on community pharmacies. NHS inform states: “Your local community pharmacy provides a free stop smoking service,” and says you can drop in to pick up medication and get one-to-one support at a time that suits you, such as during a lunch break. Local specialist services also offer one-to-one sessions by phone or in person, plus group support sessions, by appointment or on a drop-in basis, in venues such as a GP practice, pharmacy, community center or hospital (NHS inform, local help).

Watch: How the Pharmacy Service Works in Scotland

Public Health Scotland has published a short video on the Quit Your Way pharmacy support service, which shows what a visit can look like.

Wales: Help Me Quit

In Wales the national service is Help Me Quit. Its website tells visitors, “Freephone 0800 085 2219,” and says the service gives you “Support from NHS experts,” “Free nicotine replacement therapy” and “Access to prescription only medicines” (Help Me Quit).

Three details stand out on the official page:

• No referral needed. The site states, “You don’t need a GP referral and there’s no waiting list.”
• Callback option. You can enter your name, number, postcode and a preferred callback time (morning, afternoon or evening) and the team calls you.
• Language choice. The form lets you choose English, Welsh or another language, and the site says calls and correspondence in Welsh are welcome and will be answered in Welsh without delay. It also offers an email route for people who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing.

The site also says you would be joining the 100,000 people in Wales who have already quit with the service. That is the service’s own claim rather than an independent statistic, so treat it as reassurance, not evidence of effectiveness.

Northern Ireland: Stop Smoking NI

Northern Ireland’s information site, stopsmokingni.info, was “created by the Public Health Agency, with the involvement of smokers and ex-smokers,” to support people in Northern Ireland to quit. It includes a locator for stop smoking services across the country, listing GP surgeries, pharmacies and other venues (Stop Smoking NI).

What the service says it offers

The “local help and support” page states that “Free stop smoking support is available across Northern Ireland” and that it can make you “up to four times more likely to quit successfully.” It also says the support is free, tailored to your needs and that you do not need to quit immediately to start: “you will start making steps towards it and we will give you as many appointments as you need” (Stop Smoking NI, local help).

You will normally be offered a one-to-one appointment, though many areas also offer group and drop-in services. Depending on where you live, the page says the venue could be a local GP surgery, pharmacy, high-street shop or even a mobile bus clinic.

Free medication through a pharmacy service

The same page is specific about nicotine replacement: “Licensed nicotine replacement therapy is available free of charge if you register with a specialist stop smoking service based in a pharmacy.” Pharmacy staff offer advice and help you choose the type that suits you best. The site also states that the prescription-only stop smoking medicines are available on prescription, so ask your GP.

What to Expect at Your First Appointment

The Northern Ireland page gives the clearest description of a first session, and the structure is similar across UK services. At the first meeting you will talk about why you smoke, why you want to quit and any past attempts. You can choose a quit date, and you will be offered a breath test that shows the level of carbon monoxide in your body.

Support then continues on a regular schedule. Stop Smoking NI says most people have “weekly face-to-face or phone contact with your adviser for the first four weeks after you quit smoking, then less frequently for a further eight weeks.” The advisers also cover how to prepare to stop, nicotine replacement therapy, coping with withdrawal, how to stay stopped, weight control and relaxation techniques.

Scotland describes a similar approach in its own words: advisers who help you get ready to stop in a way that suits you and offer support while you are trying to stop. If you want to understand how a quit app fits next to that, see our guide to using a quit app with your stop smoking service.

Medication: What Is Free and What Needs a Prescriber

Medication is the main reason to use a service rather than going it alone, because it removes the cost barrier. The three nations describe it slightly differently.

NRT basics from NHS inform

NHS inform says there are seven types of NRT: patches, gum, inhalator, microtabs, lozenges, nasal spray and mouth spray. It states that NRT should be used for an 8 to 12 week period, and that using it is better than returning to smoking because it contains only nicotine and not the other harmful chemicals found in cigarettes (NHS inform, stop smoking medication).

Varenicline

For varenicline, NHS inform describes a prescription medicine that reduces nicotine cravings and blocks some receptors in the brain, which reduces the reward from smoking. It says most people need a 12 week course. It also explains that the earlier brand, Champix, was withdrawn from the NHS in 2021 because of an impurity in the drug, and that the replacement version has been approved as safe by the MHRA. Medicines are never right for everyone, so ask a prescriber whether varenicline suits you. This guide does not give dosing advice.

If you are wondering about vapes, availability and rules differ between services and over time, so ask your adviser what your local service offers. Our article on swap to stop free vape vs NRT compares the two routes in more detail, and our guide to how to get free nicotine patches explains the free NRT route more broadly.

How to Sign Up in Each Nation

Getting started takes one contact. Pick the route that feels easiest and you can adjust later.

Scotland

1. Phone 0800 84 84 84 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm), use webchat during the same hours, or text ‘Quit Your Way’ plus your question to 07903 588 669.
2. Or search for a local service on NHS inform and select “click to be contacted” so a trained adviser contacts you.
3. Or go straight to your community pharmacy and ask about the free stop smoking service.

Wales

1. Call Help Me Quit on 0800 085 2219.
2. Or fill in the callback form at helpmequit.wales with your preferred time and language.
3. You do not need a GP referral and there is no waiting list, according to the site.

Northern Ireland

1. Open stopsmokingni.info and enter your postcode in the service locator.
2. Choose a nearby pharmacy, GP surgery or other venue and register with the stop smoking service there.
3. Ask about group or drop-in options if one-to-one appointments are hard to attend.

Not sure which stage you are at? The best starting point is our how to quit smoking in 2026 complete evidence-based guide, which lays out every method side by side.

Using an App Alongside Your Service

A service gives you structure, medication and an adviser who knows your plan. The gap is the time in between: a craving at 10pm on a Tuesday, a stressful commute, or a social event where everyone else is smoking. This is where a quit app helps.

iQuit is free on Google Play and the App Store. Features that pair well with a service include craving logging with triggers and intensity, so you can show your adviser patterns; SOS support with breathing and grounding exercises; and a dashboard of days smoke-free, cigarettes avoided and money saved. Streak shields and slip recovery help you pick up again after a slip. iQuit does not replace your service or your medication, and it does not treat any condition.

Context matters too. Our UK smoking statistics for 2026 cover smoking rates, quitting and vaping across the UK, which gives useful background before you talk to an adviser.

Frequently Asked Questions

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