Up to 4700 people in Arbroath could get £12.50 a week if they give up smoking.
That’s the number in the town NHS Tayside estimates qualify for a scheme paying people to stop smoking.
However, just 30 people signed up for the scheme when it was launched at the Sea Fest last weekend.
NHS Tayside staff spent two days trying to persuade visitors to sign up for the quit4u scheme.
“We were trying to encourage as many people as possible to give up smoking and access all stop smoking services available, including quit4u,” said an NHS spokeswoman.
The quit4u scheme, which has been running in Dundee for more than two years, pays people £12.50 a week if they can prove they have stopped smoking. Participants have to pass a weekly carbon monoxide breath test to qualify for the payment.
Those who sign up for the scheme and pass the breath test receive a pre-loaded entitlement card they can use to buy groceries at a local supermarket. Only smokers living in deprived areas are entitled to join the scheme.
On Thursday, the health authority made available figures on the estimated numbers of smokers in Arbroath and Angus.
The spokeswoman said there are just over 5400 smokers in Arbroath, with 4700 falling into the category of living in deprived areas of the town. The estimated number of smokers in Angus is 22,000, with 17,000 living in deprived areas.
The spokeswoman said there were no targets regarding the number of smokers the health authority would like to attract to the scheme in Arbroath or across the county when it becomes more widely available.
She noted that while not everyone had access to the quit4u incentive scheme, all smokers have access to groups throughout Angus that give them support to quit.AdviceAngus Community Health Partnership smoking cessation coordinator Kenny Grewar said: “There were hundreds of people visiting our stand over the two days of the Sea Fest. While they may not have registered for the quit4u scheme they were able to ask for advice and were given information leaflets about stop smoking classes.”
When the quit4u scheme was launched in Dundee NHS Tayside said it hoped to help 1800 smokers quit over the first two years the scheme was running. It estimated there were 36,000 smokers in the city’s most deprived areas.
The scheme was also launched in deprived areas of Perth and Perthshire.
But figures released by the Scottish Government in June showed NHS Tayside was struggling more than most other health authorities to persuade smokers to quit.
The health board recorded the highest percentage of failed attempts at one month after setting a date to stop smoking, with 1844 (36%) reporting they had started smoking again after one month. In NHS Fife the figure was 1146 (28%).
NHS Tayside also recorded the joint-lowest proportion of successful attempts at quitting smoking in Scotland last year.
According to the June figures, NHS Tayside and NHS Lanarkshire both recorded 33% success rates in helping people stop smoking, while NHS Fife recorded a 42% success rate.
A total of 5106 attempts to stop were recorded last year in Tayside – although the statisticians admit that total may include more than one attempt by the same person that year.