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Publication, Part of

NHS Contraceptive Services - England, 2007-2008

Publication Date:
Date Range:
01 Apr 2007 to 31 Mar 2008

Summary

August 2014 Note:

Table 11 is incorrect.  Specifically, the figures for IU devices and IU systems from 2006-07 onwards have been swapped around.  Please see the 2012-13 report for correct and more recent figures (see link below). We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

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This bulletin contains information on NHS community contraception services from the KT31 return. It includes services provided by:

Trusts in NHS clinics and as domiciliary visits
Brook services.
It does not include services provided by consultants in out-patient clinics or those provided by General Practitioners. However, limited data is presented in this publication on out-patient clinics from The NHS Information Centre's Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and prescription data from the Prescribing Support Unit (PSU).

'Contraception and Sexual Health 2007-08', is published on the same day by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on behalf of our organisation. This is a sample survey of women aged 16 to 49 and men aged 16 to 69, in Great Britain, and gives an overview of all contraception used irrespective of whether it is provided by the NHS or not. It also asks about sexual behaviour and knowledge of sexually transmitted infections. Detailed results from this survey are available from the ONS web site.

As a result of detailed validation carried out during the production of the 2008/09 NHS Contraceptive Services report, a number of errors were identified in the 2007/08 report.

As a result, an errata note in respect of the 2007-08 report was published on 20 October 2009 to coincide with the release of the 2008-09 report. It detailed each error and provided the corresponding correction. These corrections were also carried through to the 2008-09 report and excel tables.

An updated version of this errata note has now been issued, on 14 June 2011, to confirm to users that some of the errors identified in the 2007-08 report are also present in the corresponding 2007-08 Excel tables. Such instances are highlighted in specific terms in the updated errata note. The updated errata note also highlights an additional error relating to the column headings of Table 1, which are presented in calendar rather than financial years.

Highlights

  • there have been around 2.6 million attendances (made by 1.2 million individuals) at NHS community contraception clinics every year over the last decade. There was a decline of 4 per cent to 2.5 million in 2006-07 but this was unchanged in 2007-08
  • there were 1.1 million women attending community contraception clinics in 2007-08: a fall of 2 per cent or 22,000 on the previous year
  • although they only account for 10 per cent of attendances, the number of men attending clinics increased for the second consecutive year to reach 123,000: an increase of 5 per cent or just under 6,000
  • the peak age group for clinic attendance was 16-19, based on the rate per 100 population; an estimated 20 per cent of women in this age group visited a clinic during the year. The equivalent figure for 15 year olds and under is 8 per cent
  • oral contraception remains the most popular form of contraception among women, accounting for 46 per cent of female contraceptive use
  • use of Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs) continues to increase and now accounts for 23 per cent of primary methods of contraception, compared to 21 per cent the previous year and 18 per cent in 2003-04. LARCs include: IUD, injectable contraception, implants and IUS
  • emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) became available over the counter (OTC) in pharmacies in 2001-02. Consequently emergency contraception issued by clinics has fallen by 30 per cent, compared to 2001-02, and was issued on about 136,000 occasions in 2007-08, a fall of 22,000 (14 per cent) on the previous year.

Resources

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Last edited: 22 March 2022 1:32 pm