Better access to contraceptive services will reduce unwanted pregnancies
26 Mar 2014 12:22 PM
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.