A scheme to give the contraceptive pill out without prescription is being piloted in the London boroughs of Lewisham and Southwark. Prompted by the boroughs’ high teenage pregnancy rate, it is hoped that by improving access to contraception, unplanned pregnancies are more likely to be avoided. Women over 16 will be able to obtain it after consulting with a pharmacist. The pilot has aroused some controversy, for while some believe a new approach to contraception is needed, others argue that it will put patients’ health at risk.
Currently, the contraceptive pill is only available with a doctor’s prescription. This can be got either by visiting your regular GP or by attending a family planning or sexual health clinic. The new scheme will see pharmacists being trained to conduct the same interview a doctor would, to ensure that the woman’s medical history make her suitable for the contraceptive. Chief executive of the Family Planning Trust Julia Bentley is positive about the pilot: "Pharmacists are highly skilled professionals. With the right training and clinical support, they are well placed to conduct consultations with women, ensure patient safety and prescribe the pill in the same way that nurses already do."
The pilot comes a year after Lord Darzi, Minister for Health, announced plans to train pharmacists across the UK to dispense the pill without prior consultation with a doctor. Public health trusts, doctors and pharmacists will work together to create an arrangement called “patient group direction”, where a doctor authorises another health professional to give medication to a specific group of patients. £26.8 m is set to be spent on the scheme, which Lord Darzi has promised will take place under ‘robust’ monitoring.
£30,000 is being spent by the Southwark and Lewisham Primary Care Trusts, and if successful we will doubtless see similar trials being rolled out throughout the country. Doubters fear it will lead to a rise in STIs if young women are pressured into going for the ‘quick’ solution rather than being carefully talked through all their options. The Family Education Trust have also been critical of this approach to cutting teenage pregnancies, for they believe it shows the government to be “more interested in getting young people to use contraception than discouraging them from engaging in sexual activity in the first place”
Certainly teenagers need to be made aware of the other risks of unprotected sex, namely catching an STI, and whoever is giving out the medication needs to be certain they are freely choosing to have sex. However, women of all ages are likely to be in favour of the scheme for it will make managing their sex lives far more convenient. The main question seems to be how well pharmacists will be trained in performing consultations and whether high teenage pregnancy rates will indeed prove to be rooted in ease of access to contraception.