**Heart attack admissions reduced after smoking ban**

NEWS

The number of people suffering from heart attacks in England has fallen since the smoking ban came into effect, a study has found.

Figures have revealed that the number of hospital admissions for heart attack sufferers have dropped by 1,200 since July 2007, expected to have saved the NHS over £8m.

Figures from Scotland, where the legislaton was introduced in March 2006, found a 17% drop in the number of those admited to hospital for a heart attack, within just a year after the ban was introduced.

Dr Anna Gilmore, director of the Tobacco Control Research Group, said: "Given the large number of heart attack attacks in this country each year, even a relatively small reduction has important public health benefits."

Professor John Britten, of the Royal College of Physicians said: "We urge the government to take further steps to close the remaining loopholes in the existing smoking laws, and to act to prevent the continued exposure of children to passive smoking in the home."
 
Further information can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10266997.stm