Calls Grow to Make a Daily Contraceptive Pill Available in Pharmacy Without a Prescription

Health Professional Voices Mirror Medicines Switch Expert Maxwellia’s

New research published by The Lancet Journal (14November 2020) highlights the increasing urgency and benefit of switching the widely used progestogen only pill (POP) from prescription-only to pharmacy status to improve public health, play to the strengths of the community and high street pharmacist and protect the NHS.

The study finds that through this ease of access and convenience, the simple pharmacist-delivered intervention of supply of a contraceptive pill, along with rapid access to a sexual and reproductive health clinic, can result in a significant increase in continued effective contraception and reduce the rates of unintended pregnancy in the UK.

The study echoes the findings of the reports published by the UK All Parliamentary Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists that highlights fragmented commissioning in the UK, resulting in healthcare delivery that is not shaped by the needs of today’s women, which has been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Key findings include:

1. Over a third (37%) of women are unable to access the contraceptive services they need[1]
2. Almost half (45%) of pregnancies and one third of births in England are unplanned, costing the NHS £240m every year^1,[2]
3. Despite a decline in the overall teenage pregnancy rate over the last decade, England remains the country with the highest rate in Western Europe¹

All of this indicates a longstanding unmet need for greater, convenient access to contraception, which is worsening in some areas of the population.

These latest reports add weight to the years of tireless lobbying from the UK’s leading women’s and sexual health organisations and bodies* to deliver this necessary change.

Behind the scenes, Maxwellia, a pioneering, independent British medicines switch company, has been working to try and make this a reality and widen people’s access to a range of medicines through the pharmacy without the need for a GP appointment and prescription – offering greater convenience for women and reducing the load on an over stretched NHS.

Maxwellia hopes to create a major step change in women’s health by seeking to reclassify a product that if approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), could become available to buy directly from the local pharmacy.

At least 18 million GP appointments are used up on conditions that can be treated with medicines available in pharmacy^[3]and on average, people must wait more than two weeks to get a GP appointment^[4]. In light of Covid-19, physical access to a GP visit has significantly reduced.