Stop smoking clinics on the timetable

Under plans proposed by NHS Lothian, hour-long stop smoking sessions will be a regular feature of the school timetable. The confidential sessions will be held during school hours and staggered so pupils do not always miss the same lessons.

Clinics are already run on an ad hoc basis in some schools but the health board plans to employ a second adviser to formalise the arrangement with the city's 23 high schools.

Diana Martin, stop smoking co-ordinator for young people at NHS Lothian, said schools had been keen to allow young people to miss lessons to attend sessions. "Not many young people will go to the doctors and say they want to stop smoking," she said. "But taking services to schools may help them decide to do something."