Now GPs ration contraception in bid to cut costs

CASH-STRAPPED GP surgeries are cutting back on the contraceptives they give out, with campaigners warning abortion rates will rise as a result.

At the same time, family planning clinics are closing or reducing their hours, as councils’ public health budgets are squeezed.

The revelations, made in two reports published yesterday by the Family Planning Association and the Advisory Group on Contraception, come after ministers announced public health cuts totalling more than £800million over six years.

More than one in four councils have cut or are considering cutting the number of clinics providing long-acting reversible contraception, such as coils and implants, the research reveals. And 20 per cent of GP surgeries do not offer to fit such devices.

It comes after health watchdog Nice published guidance earlier this year hoping to persuade more women to use coils in a bid to lower abortion rates.

A survey of more than 1,000 GPs across England, commissioned by the Family Planning Association, revealed 46 per cent do not even give out condoms.

Of these, a third said this was because they did not have sufficient funding. Just 2 per cent of GPs questioned said they offered the full range of contraceptive methods, while more than half said there was not enough time in a standard appointment to discuss all the options.

Natika Halil, chief executive of the Family Planning Association, said: ‘Although we didn’t expect all GPs would offer all of the methods, we were shocked such a large majority said there were methods that they don’t prescribe.

‘It is also worrying that, even when women have booked an appointment to specifically talk about their contraceptive needs, only 46 per cent of GPs said they have time to go through their options. At the same time as we are seeing restrictions in what GPs offer, there are also public spending cuts to community sexual and reproductive health services.

‘It makes us question where people can get the help they need if their local services don’t offer the methods which would be most suitable for them.’

While all the GPs questioned said they prescribed the Pill and 99 per cent offered the contraceptive injection, only 77 per cent fitted the implant. And just 35 per cent of GPs said they offered female barrier methods such as the contraceptive diaphragm or cap.

The second report, from the Advisory Group on Contraception, found that 14 per cent of councils would be closing services providing contraceptive care within the next year. Meanwhile, 13 per cent said they were considering cuts.

Tracey Forsyth, a nurse at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, told the BBC: ‘With all the cuts, what we’re looking at is an increase in unwanted pregnancies.’ Jane Dickson, an NHS sexual health consultant, warned of an ‘escalation’ in teenage pregnancy, unplanned pregnancy and abortion. ‘All these new methods of contraception have been developed, which have been so much more reliable, and given women so much reproductive control,’ she said.

‘If we remove those choices again it’s an enormous step backwards. Those great steps forward that we’ve made to help women plan pregnancy at a time that’s convenient for them, all that work will be undone.’

Anne Connolly, a family doctor in Bradford and an expert in sexual health, said: ‘Both GPs and community services play a crucial role in ensuring women get the right contraception for them.

‘So it’s hugely concerning to see that in many parts of the country contraceptive services are being cut, meaning that women can’t access the most reliable types of contraception. Without close scrutiny, I’m worried this trend will only continue – and women will bear the consequences.’

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: ‘Local areas are best placed to decide how to provide the sexual health services their communities need.

‘Good progress is being made – for example, teenage pregnancy is down 30 per cent in England since 2011 – the lowest for 40 years. Over the next five years we will invest more than £16billion in local government public health services.’

‘Enormous step backwards’