GPs in call to improve advice on avoiding pregnancy

FAMILY doctors fear the long-term decline in teenage pregnancies will be reversed unless more is done to improve access to reproductive services, a leading GP has warned.

Professor Helen StokesLampard, chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said their members were worried the rates of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies – currently at a record low – will increase because some vulnerable patients are struggling to access the most appropriate forms of contraception.

The concerns emerged in a UK-wide survey of 50,000 RCGP members, including those in Scotland.

Data from ISD Scotland, the Scottish Government’s health statistics body, shows pregnancies among under-20s fell to their lowest level in 20 years in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available.

The rate in Scotland is also lower compared to England and Wales, while pregnancies in the under-18 and under-16 age groups are broadly similar across Britain.

However, Ms Stokes-Lampard, said GPs were particularly concerned about the difficulties patients living in rural areas have in accessing sexual and reproductive health services, as well as younger patients who rely on their parents for transport.

She said: “As one of the most cost-effective services we provide, sexual and reproductive health must not become the ‘Cinderella’ service of the NHS, especially when it has the potential to save the NHS millions through the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and transmission of sexually transmitted infections