STOP smoking clinics in Leatherhead and Dorking are to close as part of NHS Surrey's cost-cutting drive.

The primary care trust has to find savings of £70.8 million this year to plug a funding gap and the board has decided that £200,000 will be cut from the Stop Smoking Service.

No new referrals will be made to the clinics and existing users will be transferred to the NHS telephone support service.

Stop Smoking Service manager Lisa McNally said: "There are tough financial restrictions but we have kept a countywide service going with the telephone support service.

"And in fact our capacity to treat people is exceeding the number of referrals we are getting."

The decision was made after the service exceeded its targets for last year with 4,106 successful quitters, ahead of the target of 3,623.

NHS Surrey's success rate for referrals was 65 per cent, the fourth highest in the country, well above the national average of 49 per cent, and the telephone support service had the highest success rate at 77 per cent.

But last year only 736 of the 6,316 setting stop dates were treated by the telephone service.

Dawn Bainick, who ran the Ashtead clinic before it was closed on August 10, thinks the area has lost a useful tool.

"By the time people reach us they have often tried other methods of giving up without luck," she said. "It's just really disappointing for the people who still need the service."

Another adviser, who wished to remain anonymous, felt that the telephone service would make a poor replacement for the face-to-face clinics.

"Most people who attend the groups say that it was attending the groups that helped them to quit," she said.

"I think both services are valid but switching just to phone support doesn't give people options.

"Different people suit different methods and that is why you have to have different options."

The adviser said that the loss of contact makes it a lot harder for support staff to verify progress.

She said: "When you speak to someone on the phone you can't be certain they have quit.

"It's only in the clinics that you can validate it because we can check carbon monoxide levels which indicate how long since someone has smoked."