A CONTROVERSIAL scheme being trialled in Scotland could be the latest way to encourage smokers to give up the habit.

NHS Tayside are paying cigarette smokers £12.50 a week to swap their fags for fruit and vegetables.

Initial results have been promising, according to the healthcare provider, prompting health trusts across the country to consider the scheme.

Increasing the numbers of people quitting smoking across Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale and the Ribble Valley is one of the main aims of NHS East Lancashire’s Save a Million Years of Life (SMYL) programme and a number of initiatives are run to help smokers.

Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust is also trying to encourage more people to give up but said there were no plans was currently in place to adopt the Tayside scheme.

A spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately, throughout 2008/09 numbers of people wanting to stop smoking and accessing the NHS Stop Smoking Service have declined in Blackburn with Darwen.

"We have no immediate plans to follow Scotland in their scheme but are looking at all available services in the area to help us reduce the number of smokers.

"Over the past few years the Government has introduced various strategies to help people to stop smoking, these included banning smoking in public places and the introduction of drug therapy, namely Champix.”

In the Tayside scheme money is put onto an electronic card, which is used to pay for groceries if participants pass a weekly breath test.

No alcohol or cigarettes can be purchased with the card, and in the long term it is hoped the cost of paying smokers to quit will actually save the NHS money in terms of future treatment.

Smokers yesterday gave the idea a mixed reception yesterday.

Zeki Ates, 35, from Shadworth, Blackburn believed the plan would help him quit. He said: "Groceries cost a lot of money and to get help with buying these, while quitting smoking, is an excellent idea. It would definitely improve my health and wallet as I spend £20 a week on cigarettes."

But Ann Porter, 56, from Mill Hill, Blackburn, who has tried to give up smoking before said she did not think the scheme would stop her lighting up for good.

She said "I gave up smoking for eight weeks once, but I don't see how this idea could help me. The amount of money you would get with the scheme isn't large enough, so I don't think it'd stop me or other smokers."