Doctors will be able to prescribe e-cigarettes on the NHS for the first time in the New Year (file photo)

E-cigarettes will be prescribed on the NHS for the first time in the New Year but ministers are said to have tried to keep the move quiet over fears that GPs would be overrun by people demanding them.

Doctors will soon be able to hand out the device to smokers who want to quit, a move that will reportedly cost the NHS in the region of £20 per kit and £10 a week for each patient's cartridges.

But public health minister Jane Ellison is said to have hoped that the government could keep the news under wraps until the e-cigarettes are available via prescription in 2016.

According to Nigel Nelson of the Sunday People, a Whitehall source said: 'We didn't want to make a song and dance about it because GPs would be overrun by people demanding it.

'But this is something we've been pushing for.'

Ms Ellison had to reveal details of the e-cigarette plan after being asked a direct question by Labour MP Steve McCabe.

She told him that the Government believed 'vaping' was 'significantly less harmful than smoking' and added that medicinal license applications were 'encouraged'.

It followed last month's decision by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to license British American Tobacco's e-Voke.

Making e-cigarettes available on the NHS is expected to bring long-term health budget savings. The move has also been welcomed by the group Action on Smoking and Health.

At least 2.6 million people are believed to use e-cigarettes, assessed as 95 per cent safer than tobacco, and almost half are ex-smokers.

Cartridges used in the rechargeable devices contain 'pharmaceutical grade nicotine', according to British American Tobacco.

The move will reportedly cost the NHS in the region of £20 per kit and £10 a week for each patient's cartridges. This graphic shows how an e-cigarette works, with a cartridge containing 'pharmaceutical grade nicotine'

At least 76,000 lives could be saved every year if all smokers switched to electronic cigarettes, according to Public Health England (PHE).

In August it was revealed that pilot schemes in North East England and Leicester had already started recommending e-cigarettes to patients through council smoking cessation services.

But up until now GPs have been unable to recommend them because they were not properly licensed, unlike other nicotine replacement therapies such as gum, lozenges and patches.

Several firms have submitted licence applications to the drugs regulator.

The report did however admit that e-cigarettes are controversial, and many rail companies have banned their use on trains or in stations.