With desogestrel now available OTC and hormonal contraception becoming available from a wider range of health professionals, clinicians have noted that POP use will increasingly predominate but LARC (coils and implants) usage could fall, despite LARCs being more effective contraceptives.⁸

One reason for a decline in LARC use, particularly among adolescents, has been the removal of LARC from Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicator of GP prescribing in 2014. As younger women are more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy, researchers have said this is a concern.^1,8

LARC is more likely to be prescribed in more deprived areas, while oral contraception use is more likely in less deprived areas. However, failure rates for all types of contraception are higher in low-income populations, with abortion rates twice as high in the most deprived decile compared to the least deprived decile.⁸

The researchers have called for practitioners to be trained to provide informed contraceptive choices, including appropriate information and education so as to reduce inequalities in access to contraception. “We hope that pharmacists will use the opportunity to signpost women, particularly adolescents, to information on LARC and reverse the falling trend in this population,” they said.