Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of those who use telemedicine abortion services have an abortion after the 10 week threshold.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2022, the latest available data, there were 152,405 abortions where both abortion medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, were taken at home by residents of England and Wales. Of this, 16 abortions, or 0.01%, were recorded as having occurred at 10 weeks gestation or over. Cases containing inconsistent information, such as at-home abortions over 10 weeks gestation, are returned to clinics for confirmation. At the time of publication of the 2022 statistics, five, or 0.003%, of these abortions were confirmed as having occurred at 10 weeks gestation or over, with the remaining 11 cases being unconfirmed.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the introduction of telemedicine for first-trimester abortions on the number of criminal prosecutions in the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made an assessment on the connection between the number of prosecutions for unlawful abortions and the availability of telemedicine for early medical abortion. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance. Parliament decides the circumstances under which abortion can legally be undertaken.
In 2022, Parliament voted to amend the Abortion Act 1967 to allow eligible women in England and Wales to take one or both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks at home, following a consultation with a clinician either in person, by telephone or by electronic means. The Department works closely with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, and abortion providers to ensure that abortions are provided safely, in accordance with the legal framework set by the Abortion Act 1967.
Abortion continues to be a very safe procedure for which major complications are rare at all gestations. The evidence-base for home use of early medical abortion pills has been assessed by leading statutory and professional organisations and it is recognised to be a safe procedure in evidence-based guidance, including the World Health Organisation’s abortion care guideline, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2022 report on best practice in abortion care and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guidelines on abortion care.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Merron on 12 November (HL Deb col 252), what specific reasons she has for saying that "the evidence base for telemedical medicine is sound".
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Abortions are generally very safe, and most women will not experience any complications. The evidence-base for home use of early medical abortion pills has been assessed by leading statutory and professional organisations and it is recognised to be a safe procedure in evidence-based guidance, including the World Health Organisation’s abortion care guideline, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2022 report on best practice in abortion care, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s clinical guidelines on abortion care.
The Abortion Notification System (ANS) collects information on complications that occur up until the time of discharge for all abortions, and where the medicine was administered for medical abortions. Since 2015, there has been a marginal downward trend in complication rates reported in the ANS. In 2022, complications were reported in only 0.12% of abortions.
The Department continues to work with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, and abortion providers to ensure that women have safe and timely access to abortion services as decided by Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish an updated version of the Department for Health and Social Care guidance on completing the EMA1 abortion form or similar certificate to reflect any potential uncertainty in the opinion of the medical practitioner as to the patients’ gestation period where an in-person consultation has not taken place.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department keeps guidance on completing the EMA1 abortion form under review. There are currently no plans to update the guidance.
The medical practitioner terminating the pregnancy is required to form an opinion in good faith that the gestation of the pregnancy will be below 10 weeks at the time the first pill is taken. This opinion can be formed either during a teleconsultation, or an in-person appointment.
Pregnancy duration can be assessed from the first day of the last menstrual period (LMP). Advice from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is clear that most women can determine the duration of their pregnancy with reasonable accuracy by LMP alone.
However, if there is any uncertainty about the gestation of the pregnancy, the medical practitioner would ask the woman to attend an in-person appointment to enable them to form an opinion that the pregnancy will not have exceeded 10 weeks at the time the first abortion pill is taken. If she does not attend in-person when requested, the terminating practitioner would not be able to form an opinion in good faith that the pregnancy is below 10 weeks gestation, and therefore would not be able to prescribe abortion pills for home use.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Merron on 12 November (HL Deb col 254), what was the specific evidence base for saying that "The data available does not point to concerns about the provision of telemedicine".
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Abortions are generally very safe, and most women will not experience any complications. The evidence-base for home use of early medical abortion pills has been assessed by leading statutory and professional organisations and it is recognised to be a safe procedure in evidence-based guidance, including the World Health Organisation’s abortion care guideline, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2022 report on best practice in abortion care, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s clinical guidelines on abortion care.
The Abortion Notification System (ANS) collects information on complications that occur up until the time of discharge for all abortions, and where the medicine was administered for medical abortions. Since 2015, there has been a marginal downward trend in complication rates reported in the ANS. In 2022, complications were reported in only 0.12% of abortions.
The Department continues to work with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, and abortion providers to ensure that women have safe and timely access to abortion services as decided by Parliament.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department issues to general practice staff on triaging (a) online consultation submissions and (b) reports of life-threatening symptoms shortly before the online tool closes each day.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department updates the General Medical Services and Personal Medical Services regulations that govern general practice. NHS England issues contractual variations and provides supplementary resources to support practices in implementing these changes.
The change to online access requirements was deferred by six months to 1 October 2025 so practices could prepare and get support for this transition if needed. Practices were encouraged to consider what changes they have needed to implement to ensure they were ready to meet this requirement from 1 October 2025. This approach was intended to facilitate a smooth transition and minimise any disruption to patient care. Practices are permitted to display guidance on their websites and premises that states patient should not submit an online consultation request if their issue is urgent and should instead call the practice or attend in person.
There is a range of support on offer for practices including guidance, joint webinars from NHS Confederation and NHS England to showcase best practice and case studies where this is working well.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his Department's requirement to keep online consultation tools open from 8am to 6:30pm from Monday to Friday on (a) patient safety and (b) GP surgeries' workload.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The change regarding online access means parity for walk-in, phone and online access. Implementation was deferred by six months to 1 October 2025 so practices could prepare and get support for this transition if needed. The requirement builds on policies that have been in place for several years to encourage the shift to modern general practice. Practices that consistently use online access report improvements in services for both patients and staff. We agreed that safeguards would be in place for patient safety. Practices are permitted to display guidance on their websites and premises advising patients not to submit an online consultation request if their issue is urgent, and to instead call the practice directly or attend in person.
Further, in 2024/25, 85% of primary care networks said all of their practices already had online consultations available for patients to make administrative and clinical requests at least for the duration of core hours, with no patient safety issues raised, and claimed incentive funding for this. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are working to identify practices who are struggling with the requirements, so that they can offer more focussed support.
Last summer, we took action to address general practitioner (GP) unemployment. By investing £160 million in the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme in the last year, we have recruited over 2,500 GPs into general practice since October 2024. This will help patients access appointments.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department made of the potential impact of unlimited online consultations, introduced in the new GP contract, on the ability of GPs to meet patient demand.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In February 2025 the GPCE agreed to make it a contractual obligation for all GP practices to offer access to online services throughout core hours (8:00am - 18:30pm), bringing online access in line with walk-in and phone access. To support practices in preparing for this transition and to ensure they had sufficient time to make the necessary adjustments, the start date was deferred to 1 October 2025.
This change aims to improve patient access, reduce long phone queues, and help general practitioners manage demand more effectively. Experience suggests that extending online access offers significant benefits to both patients and practices. With more patients using online options, phone lines will be less busy and will open up availability for those who need additional help or more urgent care.
We understand that practices require additional resource to deliver services to their patients. That is why we have invested £1.1 billion into general practice: £160 million of this to expand the GP workforce (adding 2,000 more GPs since October 2024), and £102 million to create more clinical space which will enable the delivery of 8.3 million extra appointments.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the devolved administrations about the roll-out of NHS Online throughout the UK.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In September 2025, we announced an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which will give people on certain pathways the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. The first patients will be able to use the service from 2027. NHS England is developing the online hospital for England but ministers proactively welcome discussions on expanding the capabilities further with the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new NHS Online service will be available to all UK citizens.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In September 2025, we announced an “online hospital”, NHS Online, which will give people on certain pathways the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. The first patients will be able to use the service from 2027. NHS England is developing the online hospital for England but ministers proactively welcome discussions on expanding the capabilities further with the devolved administrations.