"The NHS has made the morning-after pill available for free across pharmacies in England in an effort to reduce a postcode lottery of access to emergency contraception. Almost 10,000 pharmacies are now able to offer the pill without charge, saving those in need of free emergency contraception from having to visit their GP or to get an appointment at a sexual health clinic."
"The NHS's national clinical director for women's health, Dr Sue Mann, said the expansion was one of the biggest changes to sexual health services since the 1960s and a gamechanger in making reproductive healthcare more easily accessible for women. Instead of trying to search for women's services or explain their needs, from today women can just pop into their local pharmacy and get the oral emergency contraceptive pill free of charge without needing to make an appointment, she said."
"With four in five people living within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy, this service is another example of how the NHS is already delivering on our 10-year health plan commitment to shift care into the heart of communities. The coincides with the NHS announcing that people who have been newly prescribed antidepressants will also now be able to seek advice and support about their medication and healthy lifestyle changes from their local pharmacist."
Almost 10,000 pharmacies across England now offer the morning-after pill free of charge, enabling people to access emergency oral contraception without visiting a GP or sexual health clinic. Some pharmacies previously charged as much as 30 for emergency oral contraception. The expansion increases local accessibility given that four in five people live within a 20-minute walk of a pharmacy. Newly prescribed antidepressant patients can seek pharmacist advice and support about medication and healthy lifestyle changes. The National Pharmacy Association welcomed national commissioning for emergency contraception and called for sustainable funding amid pharmacy pressures and closures.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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