Access to contraception has got harder in England, top doctor says

Women are finding it harder to access contraception than they did a decade ago, resulting in more unplanned pregnancies, the women’s health ambassador has said.

They have been discouraged by bad experiences, a confusingly disjointed system and long delays for procedures such as the coil or implant insertion, according to Prof Lesley Regan, a leading gynaecologist who was appointed women’s health ambassador for England last year.

She said that “destructive” changes made to the NHS commissioning system in England in 2012, which siloed GP surgeries from hospitals, were failing women. “If you’re not commissioned to deal with the problem, there’s no incentive to do a job properly … Contraception has got to be everybody’s business and up until this moment it’s been nobody’s responsibility and no one’s been accountable for it.”

She added that the NHS preoccupation with cost was counterproductive as “contraception is the single most cost-effective intervention in healthcare”. She is pushing to get the progesterone-only pill, which took a decade to become available over the counter, made free in pharmacies so fewer women “fall through the cracks”.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 June 2023