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National Statistics

NHS Contraception Services - England, 2008-2009 [NS]

Publication date: October 20, 2009
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Summary

Note 22/10/09:

A note of clarification (footnote 1) has been added to the Executive Summary of the NHS Contraceptive Services, England, 2008/09 report since its original publication.

Summary:

This annual report contains information on NHS community contraception services. This has been collected annually since 1988/89 through the KT31 return, which includes services provided by:

Trusts in NHS clinics and as domiciliary visits

Brook

Information on NHS community contraception excludes services provided in out-patient clinics and those provided by General Practitioners. Limited data is presented for out-patient clinics sourced from The NHS Information Centre's (NHS IC) Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), prescription data from the Prescribing Support Unit (PSU) and survey data from ‘Contraception and Sexual Health 2008/09', a report published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on behalf of the NHS Information Centre. 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. It also asks about sexual behaviour and knowledge of sexually transmitted infections.

Key facts

  • There were 2.5 million attendances at NHS community contraceptive clinics made by 1.3 million individuals. This represented an increase of 3 per cent (62,000) on the number of attendances in 2007/08 (also 2.5 million) and an increase of 7 per cent (84,000) on the number of individuals in 2007/08 (1.2 million). In spite of these latest increases, overall, the number of attendances and the number of individuals has remained broadly stable over the last 10 years.
  • 140,000 men attended NHS community contraceptive clinics, an increase of 13 per cent (17,000) on 2007/08 (123,000) and the third consecutive annual increase.
  • Among women who attended NHS community contraceptive clinics, the 16-19 year old age group had the highest number of attendances per 100 population. An estimated 21 per cent of women in this age group visited a clinic during the year while the equivalent proportion for those aged 13 to 15 was 8 per cent. In 2007/08 the respective proportions for these age groups were 20 per cent and 8 per cent.
  • Oral contraception was the primary contraceptive method of 44 per cent of women who attended NHS community contraceptive clinics, and it remains the most common primary method. This percentage has remained stable since 2003/04.
  • Use of Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs) continues to increase and now accounts for 24 per cent of primary methods of contraception among women who attended NHS community contraceptive clinics. This percentage was 23 per cent in 2007/08 and 18 per cent in 2003/04.

Coverage

Date Range: April 01, 2008 to March 31, 2009
Geographical coverage:
England
Geographical granularity:
Strategic Health Authorities
Primary Care Organisations
Country
Hospital and Community Health Services

Related links

View previous versions of this publication
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