Plans for the morning after pill to be available on the NHS from community pharmacies across England have been welcomed.
The initiative has been described as an ‘important step forward’ for improving contraception access.
Pharmacies will begin delivering emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) from October 2025 under the scheme announced by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).
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Emergency contraception is already available free through most GPs and sexual health clinics, and can be purchased from pharmacies, but can be hard to access.
Access and availability are important to ensure that EHC is taken within 3 to 5 days of having unprotected sex to prevent unwanted pregnancy
Ruth Bailey, chair of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Women’s Health forum and an advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) working in sexual health, said the change will ‘address some of the barriers’ faced by anyone wanting to prevent an unplanned pregnancy.
‘[It] is great news and an important step forward in providing accessible contraception for everyone who needs it.
‘Long-term under-investment in women’s health has resulted in access to contraception being a postcode lottery and the provision of the most effective methods are less than they were before the Covid-19 pandemic,’ she said.
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The change comes as part of the 2024/25 and 2025/26 funding settlement for community pharmacy in England that will also allow pharmacists to begin a patient on oral contraception as part of an EHC consultation and claim payment for both services.
Simphiwe Sesane, a nurse consultant in sexual and reproductive health and HIV care, said that stigma can stop people from accessing contraception from sexual health clinics, and that the high costs of emergency contraception may mean people are more likely to ‘take the risk’ of getting pregnant after having unprotected sex.
‘I think anything that improves access [to emergency contraception] is definitely a positive.
‘Pharmacists are readily available for most women, they are walking distance and there is often more than one available; they’ve got better working hours as well. It’s a positive move, definitely,’ Ms Sesane explained, speaking to Nursing in Practice.
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In January, research from the BMJ revealed a shift away from more reliable hormone-based methods towards ‘natural contraception’ over the last five years.
