WIREDGOV

All young people in England should be given access to contraception and advice at convenient locations so no-one is denied services because of where they live, says NICE 

Although under-18 conception rates have fallen, England still has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe. Improving contraceptive services will help ensure young people get the support they need and reduce unwanted pregnancies.

Unwanted pregnancies also have a financial cost, with abortions for young women under 25 costing the NHS approximately £53 million each year.

In this latest guidance, NICE recommends that doctors, nurses and pharmacists provide information about the full range of contraceptives available, including emergency contraception and long-acting reversible contraception, and the benefits and side effects for young people up to the age of 25.

Governors, teachers and youth workers in schools, as well as nurses, doctors and counsellors working in contraceptive services should ensure accurate and up-to-date contraceptive advice, information and support is readily available to all young women and men. Information on the location and hours of local services should be available.

Those working in contraceptive services, social care professionals and public health specialists should advise all young people to use condoms consistently and correctly, with a water-based lubricant, as well as other contraception. Condoms should always be provided along with other contraception because they help prevent the transmission of STIs.

The guidance also includes recommendations on providing contraceptive services after a pregnancy and after an abortion.

Professor Mike Kelly, Director of the Centre for Public Health at NICE said: “It is really important that sexual health services offering information and advice can be found in places where young people have access to them. Evidence clearly shows that the availability of contraception reduces the rate of unwanted pregnancies. Local planners and providers of services must make sure that what they offer is right for their area.

“Young people often find contraceptive services and advice difficult to locate. This can be for a number of reasons. They may not know where services are, who provides them or when they are open. They can also be wrongly worried that information they give may not be treated confidentially. For that reason, this guidance focuses on ensuring they receive culturally sensitive, confidential, non-judgemental and empathic advice and support tailored to their individual needs.”

Professor Kelly added that many of the recommendations made in the new guidance will cost nothing to implement. “They look at existing services to ensure everything is being done to give all young people the support and advice they need,” he said.

Anne Weyman, OBE, Chair of the independent committee that developed the guidance and former Chief Executive of the FPA, said: “Most of the young women who become pregnant while still a teenager do not plan to do so. Nearly half of all pregnancies among 15 - 18 year olds end with an abortion.

“The new guidance aims to reduce unwanted pregnancies by ensuring that young people have access to a full range of contraceptive methods, not just pills and condoms, but the longer acting methods, such as contraceptive injections and implants. We also need to make sure that young people get good contraceptive advice so that they can choose and use the right method for them.

Penny Barber, guidance developer and Area Director Midlands, Brook said: “Young men and women find it very distressing to face the possibility of an unplanned pregnancy and want to make sure they use the best contraception.

“Local planners and providers of services must make sure that the contraceptive services they offer are appropriate for their area. It is really important that services that offer information and advice can be found in the most convenient places for young people; this may be at college, through drop in clinics or their GP.

“This new guidance aims to ensure that young men and women have easy access to a real choice of the full range of contraceptive methods and support in using them.”

A local government health briefing on contraceptive services is available to help support this guidance.