Thousands in East Midlands visit local pharmacies to begin or get a repeat supply of oral contraception
This World Contraception Day (26 September), the NHS in the Midlands is reminding women across the region that they can visit their community pharmacy to begin or receive a repeat supply of oral contraception.
World Contraception Day aims to improve awareness of contraception and to enable people to make informed choices on their sexual and reproductive health. Over 692 East Midlands community pharmacies now offer this contraception service to local people without the need for them to visit their GP providing convenience and easy access for people in their local area.
So far over 24,000 (April – August 24) women in the Midlands including over 10,000 in East Midlands have benefitted from being seen at a community pharmacy for initiating or a repeat supply of oral contraception.
The service which launched as a pilot last year saw pharmacists initially offering repeat supply of oral contraception to people following an initial consultation and prescription from their GP. Following its success, the service was developed to allow pharmacists to be able to initiate, supply and advise on oral contraception. It aims to offer people greater choice and access when considering starting or continuing their current form of oral contraception.
It also supports the important and evolving role community pharmacists play to help address health inequalities by providing wider healthcare access in their communities and signposting service users to local sexual health services.
An additional benefit is the increased capacity for GP practices and sexual health clinics allowing them to support meeting the demand for more complex assessments.
Patients can self-refer to a community pharmacy, or they may be referred by their GP, sexual health clinic or another NHS service. They will then be offered a confidential consultation in a private consultation room and a shared decision will be made together with the pharmacist.
Emma Anderson, Pharmacist at Evans Pharmacies said “People are very happy to be offered the NHS oral contraception service at our pharmacy and are becoming used to seeing pharmacists for clinical appointments. We have confidential consultation rooms, and our staff are very welcoming and approachable. People can pop in to make an appointment, give us a call or drop us an email. We even offer evening appointments.”
NHS England Regional Chief Pharmacist for the Midlands, Richard Seal said: “This is a great opportunity for pharmacists to utilise more of their skills and we are delighted that over 1650 have already registered to the scheme.
“Since it launched, the number of referrals and consultations have been increasing across the Midlands all the time.”
To see which pharmacies are taking part in the service to offer oral contraception, visit Find a pharmacy that offers the contraceptive pill without a prescription – NHS (www.nhs.uk)