New Zealand is extending its programme for nurses to offer stop smoking help from hospitals to family health practices.
In New Zealand, there were 5000 "needless" deaths a year related to smoking but if people stopped soon enough they could recover and never get ill, Ms Percival said.
"The longer you smoke, the higher the risk. One out of two die before their time."
In the past 15 months the number of people offered stop smoking support in Otago and Southland hospitals had risen from 21% to 64%.
In England, nurses had been giving similar advice since 2000, and Ms Percival, who works for the Royal College of Nursing, had been brought over to share their experiences in workshops with nurses and midwives around the country, including in Dunedin on Thursday.
"We're not the health police. It's all about giving people a hand."
Ms Percival, a nurse and midwife, said it had been shown that with support and medical assistance people were four times more likely to be able to quit. Only three out of 100 smokers were still not smoking a year later, if they quit unaided.
"The nurses won't be telling you off or nagging you ... just giving you something to make it possible to do it without agonising."
It would be challenging for nurses as most smokers did not understand they had a physical addiction, she said.
"They might make that decision to quit but inside they are sabotaged by their addiction and habit. Just setting your mind to it isn't quite enough."
They needed to understand it was an illness and like other illnesses needed medical treatment.
Today, there were effective therapeutic drugs, such as patches and tablets which were fully subsidised by the Government, she said.
"These drugs make it easier so you don't go through hell. You are not a wimp if you use patches or chewing gum."
Nurses were often the ones who had to ask if people smoked so now they would be equipped to give smokers a solution.
"They'll have a bit more of an understanding of the psychology and be able to take on the bulk of the counselling work."
In England, a similar programme had reduced the number of smokers from 30% to 20% of the population aged 16 and over in 10 years, she said.
