Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of Public Health England’s document, A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue, published on 26 June, what steps they are taking to improve universal access to the full range of contraception choices.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Sexual health services are commissioned at a local level to meet the needs of the local population. The Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access sexual health services, including “advice on, and reasonable access to, a broad range of contraceptive substances and appliances”. In addition, NHS England commissions contraception provided as an additional service under the general practitioner contract. Prescriptions of long acting reversible contraception (LARC) in sexual and reproductive health services increased by 25% between 2012/13 and 2016/17 from 272,000 to 342,000. However, in primary care prescriptions of LARC decreased from 1.3 million to 1.2 million. Departmental officials are working with Public Health England to take forward actions on reproductive health following publication of their consensus statement and will consider ways to promote access to the full range of contraception through this work.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the use of long-acting reversible contraception in general practice.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Sexual health services are commissioned at a local level to meet the needs of the local population. The Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access sexual health services, including “advice on, and reasonable access to, a broad range of contraceptive substances and appliances”. In addition, NHS England commissions contraception provided as an additional service under the general practitioner contract. Prescriptions of long acting reversible contraception (LARC) in sexual and reproductive health services increased by 25% between 2012/13 and 2016/17 from 272,000 to 342,000. However, in primary care prescriptions of LARC decreased from 1.3 million to 1.2 million. Departmental officials are working with Public Health England to take forward actions on reproductive health following publication of their consensus statement and will consider ways to promote access to the full range of contraception through this work.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of Public Health England’s document, A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue, published on 26 June, what steps they are taking to ensure that reproductive health decision-making is directly informed by women’s voices.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Public Health England (PHE) has created a user reference group made up of women from the community who have experienced severe reproductive health issues in order to ensure actions in the action plan reflect service users’ needs. The action plan is due to be published in March 2019.
PHE has asked women in the user reference group help determine how issues outlined in A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue, published on 26 June could be addressed. Solutions suggested by women were then presented to PHE’s task and finish group made up of experts from across the sector including the Department, NHS England, the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Public Health, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Brook and the Family Planning Association in order to help formulate actions for the action plan. PHE plans to continue this as an iterative process throughout the development, implementation and evaluation of the action plan.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Public Health England will consult external stakeholders during the development of the reproductive health action plan referenced on page 5 of Public Health England’s A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Public Health England (PHE) has created a task and finish group made up of representatives from organisations across the sector including the Department, NHS England, the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Public Health, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Gynaecology, Brook, and the Family Planning Association. The task and finish group will work together to inform the development and implementation of the reproductive health action plan. Alongside this, PHE is also working with a user reference group, made up of women who have experienced severe reproductive health issues in order to ensure the action plan reflects service users’ needs. The action plan is due to be published in March 2019.
In addition, PHE’s regional centres are developing an approach for localising the national research conducted and developing locally appropriate actions in addition to those being driven nationally. PHE are consulting with commissioners and providers in developing the action plan through workshops and presentations across the country and to ensure implementation of the action plan from 2019 onwards.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement the proposals in Public Health England’s A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue, published on 26 June.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Public Health England (PHE) has created a task and finish group made up of representatives from organisations across the sector including the Department, NHS England, the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Public Health, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Gynaecology, Brook, and the Family Planning Association. The task and finish group will work together to inform the development and implementation of the reproductive health action plan. Alongside this, PHE is also working with a user reference group, made up of women who have experienced severe reproductive health issues in order to ensure the action plan reflects service users’ needs. The action plan is due to be published in March 2019.
In addition, PHE’s regional centres are developing an approach for localising the national research conducted and developing locally appropriate actions in addition to those being driven nationally. PHE are consulting with commissioners and providers in developing the action plan through workshops and presentations across the country and to ensure implementation of the action plan from 2019 onwards.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the process for developing Public Health England’s upcoming reproductive health action plan referenced on page 5 of Public Health England’s A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue; and when will that action plan be published.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Public Health England (PHE) has created a task and finish group made up of representatives from organisations across the sector including the Department, NHS England, the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Public Health, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Gynaecology, Brook, and the Family Planning Association. The task and finish group will work together to inform the development and implementation of the reproductive health action plan. Alongside this, PHE is also working with a user reference group, made up of women who have experienced severe reproductive health issues in order to ensure the action plan reflects service users’ needs. The action plan is due to be published in March 2019.
In addition, PHE’s regional centres are developing an approach for localising the national research conducted and developing locally appropriate actions in addition to those being driven nationally. PHE are consulting with commissioners and providers in developing the action plan through workshops and presentations across the country and to ensure implementation of the action plan from 2019 onwards.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much additional funding, if any, is being made available to local authorities to support the implementation of proposals in Public Health England’s A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue, published on 26 June.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Implementation of the proposals in Public Health England’s A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue will be funded from existing budgets.
Funding allocations for sexual and reproductive health are not set centrally by the Department and will be determined within the organisations concerned.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding is being made available to Public Health England to support the implementation of proposals contained in their report A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue, published on 26 June.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Implementation of the proposals in Public Health England’s A consensus statement: reproductive health is a public issue will be funded from existing budgets.
Funding allocations for sexual and reproductive health are not set centrally by the Department and will be determined within the organisations concerned.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether women are able to get repeat prescriptions for oral contraceptives from a GP practice that they are not registered to.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
General practitioner (GP) practices are only required to prescribe any medication for their registered patients. Patients not registered with a GP, or those who prefer not to obtain such services from the practice with whom they are registered, may obtain oral contraceptives through locally commissioned sexual health services.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the variation in cost of contraceptives discourages health care professionals from offering the full range of contraceptives to women.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No specific action is being taken to address variation in cost for different forms of contraception. Clinical commissioning groups expect prescribers to take the cost of medicines into account in their prescribing but the first consideration is always choosing the product which best meets the clinical need of the individual patient. Prescribed contraception is available free of charge to women on the National Health Service.
The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of price and health professionals’ contraceptive prescribing patterns.