Health experts are considering a reward scheme for people in Portsmouth who stop smoking with the help of an NHS quit programme.
They believe incentives could help cut smoking-related illnesses and death rates in the city.
At an average of 329 a ye
ar, there are almost twice as many early deaths from smoking in Portsmouth than the national average of 167.
Other incentives being considered by Portsmouth City Teaching Primary Care Trust include gym memberships, swim sessions or even bicycles.
But critics have branded the controversial idea a short-term fix.
The trust's deputy director of public health Dr Imogen Stephens said: 'We would particularly like to incentivise long-term quitters. Quick-return incentives could include things like vouchers for groceries, gym sessions or swim sessions.
'Longer-term incentives might include things like a bicycle, a year's gym membership or a reduced subscription to Weight Watchers – whatever is appropriate.'
A string of NHS services are already in place in Portsmouth to help smokers quit.
More than 20 NHS support groups are held for quitters every week and almost every pharmacy has signed up to supply stop smoking aids.
A nurse has recently been appointed to work with mums who smoke and the trust is also targeting young people and residents living in deprived areas of the city where more people smoke.
Dr Stephens added: 'Our ambition is to get Portsmouth's smoking prevalence down to figures that approach the national average. In particular, we want to target our efforts towards areas such as Buckland and Landport where almost half the population smoke.
'When you first start encouraging people to stop smoking the ones who want to stop quit first. As time goes on it becomes more and more difficult to find new people to quit, so it is going to become more and more difficult to maintain the momentum. We need to start thinking smarter .'
Health experts say 29 per cent of adults in Portsmouth are addicted to tobacco.
Statistics show smokers are four times more likely to kick the habit with support from an NHS stop smoking service.
The full article contains 378 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
