Women and girls should be able to get hold of emergency contraception more easily without the need for a consultation with a pharmacist, say women’s health experts.<\/p>\n
A report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends the morning-after pill “should be sold straight off the shelf”, like condoms.<\/p>\n
There are too many barriers to health services for women in the UK, it says.<\/p>\n
And their needs should be a priority.<\/p>\n
The report, Better for Women<\/a>, is also calling for a network of one-stop health clinics for women, offering smear tests, contraceptives and advice all in one place.<\/p>\n
At the moment, women and girls have to have a consultation with a pharmacist before they can be given an emergency contraceptive, or morning-after pill<\/a>.<\/p>\n
This can leave them feeling “uncomfortable, embarrassed or judged”, the report says.<\/p>\n
It recommends that the morning-after pill should be available “in front of the counter” and off the shelf, alongside pregnancy tests, condoms and Viagra.<\/p>\n
Emergency contraception is available free of charge without prescription from all pharmacies in Scotland and Wales. <\/p>\n
In England, contraception services are commissioned locally and are on offer in sexual health clinics, some GP surgeries and most pharmacies – but are not always free of charge.<\/p>\n
The College says cuts to public health budgets have made it more difficult for women to access the services they need – figures obtained by the BBC last year<\/a> suggest nearly half of councils in England had plans to reduce contraception services.<\/p>\n
This may have led to rising conception rates and abortions among older women, because of unplanned pregnancies, the report says.<\/p>\n
In 2018, more than 205,000 abortions were performed in England and Wales.<\/p>\n
The report also calls for the progestogen-only contraceptive pill<\/a>, taken once a day, to be available over the counter in pharmacies instead of with a prescription from a GP.<\/p>\n
It says girls and women should be able to order the pills online like any other pharmacy product.<\/p>\n
Prof Lesley Regan, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said the progestogen-only contraceptive pill (Pop) was very safe, and a consultation with a GP before starting to take it was “unnecessary”.<\/p>\n
The report also recommends:<\/p>\n
The report said: “Too many women are spending years in pain and discomfort because [GP] appointment times are too short and demands on the time of doctors and other healthcare professionals are too great. <\/p>\n
“This makes women less likely to talk about their issues.”<\/p>\n
The report points out that longer appointments would save the NHS money in the long term.<\/p>\n
Dr Asha Kasliwal, president of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, said women and girls, including under-18s, must have free and timely access to all methods of emergency contraception.<\/p>\n
“While emergency contraception is free in some places in England, many will choose to access it in pharmacies where cost and opening times vary considerably.<\/p>\n
“Consultations with pharmacists are highly recommended and best practice, as this is a valuable opportunity for individuals to discuss their contraceptive needs with a healthcare professional. <\/p>\n
“However, a consultation should not be a barrier to receiving emergency contraception.”<\/p>\n
Prof Regan said the key was ensuring services were more joined up and responsive to the need of girls and women.<\/p>\n
“It is important we provide a comprehensive health service for girls and women throughout their lives. <\/p>\n
“We want to empower 51% of the population to be as healthy as possible and ensure no-one is left behind,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Women and girls should be able to get hold of emergency contraception more easily without the need for a consultation with a pharmacist, say women’s health experts. A report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends the morning-after pill “should be sold straight off the shelf”, like condoms. There are too many barriers Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}