4 The Pill’s second revolution: – no GP required
As the Government announces you can get the contraceptive pill direct from pharmacists, Anna Silverman weighs up what it means
WE’VE ALL SPENT frantic mornings with our finger hovering over the call button, waiting for 8am, when we join a queue of God knows how many equally desperate souls clamouring to get an appointment with the GP.
At the heart of this impossible scramble is a GP shortage, after the workforce decreased by 4% between 2017 and 2022, as scores of doctors quit amid intense work pressures*. But new proposals mean a tense morning listening to hold music become less frequent.
This month, PM Rishi Sunak announced that patients in England will be able to get prescriptions for the contraceptive pill directly from pharmacies. Also available will be blood-pressure checks and prescriptions for other common conditions (including sore throats and straightforward urinary tract infections) under a reform that ministers hope will be introduced this winter after a consultation with the industry. It’s hoped that almost half a million women wouldn’t need to speak to a nurse or GP to get oral contraception.
The proposal is designed to free up 15 million GP appointments over the next two years, something Melissa Sookia, 43, a pharmacist at Livve pharmacy in Leeds, says is urgently needed. ‘When you ring the GP you hear a message telling you to try later if it’s not an emergency. We’ve found a lot of women ringing about contraception feel they aren’t an emergency, so they are missing their pill.’
Melissa has been a pharmacist for more than 20 years and says she’s been advocating for more to be made of pharmacists’ skills to take the pressure off GPS. ‘Plus, pharmacies are more accessible; it’s easier. And a lot of patients feel more familiar with their pharmacists.’
Sarah Graham, health journalist and author of Rebel Bodies: A Guide To The Gender Health Gap Revolution, says many of the women she speaks to feel frustrated that their reproductive health is not prioritised by the healthcare system, and that pharmacists being able to prescribe the Pill ‘has the potential to simplify women’s lives’.
However, she points out, it’s still not clear exactly how this service will work, or how many pharmacies will be offering it. ‘Saving everyone time and effort is great in theory and, if done right, this could be a gamechanger. But it’s also vital that women can still access a full range of contraceptive choices, and that they’re given the time and privacy of proper consultations to address any questions or concerns they might have.’
There are still questions to be ironed out but, by and large, the announcement is being celebrated as a move that will give women more autonomy over birth control, and therefore their bodies. It’s in stark contrast to the frightening rollback of women’s reproductive rights in the US right now. Sarah says the state of reproductive healthcare in the US ‘shows just how important it is that we don’t take our rights for granted. Ultimately, we need more choice and control over our bodies and if, when and how we have children. This could be a really important step towards that, as long as it’s not just used as another way to cut corners on women’s health.’