Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are taking to address the variation in cost for different forms of contraceptives available to women.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
No specific action is being taken to address variation in cost for different forms of contraception. Clinical commissioning groups expect prescribers to take the cost of medicines into account in their prescribing but the first consideration is always choosing the product which best meets the clinical need of the individual patient. Prescribed contraception is available free of charge to women on the National Health Service.
The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of price and health professionals’ contraceptive prescribing patterns.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 17 May (HL7492), which body is responsible for monitoring complaints about lack of access to contraceptive services.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
There is no central body responsible for monitoring waiting times for access to contraceptive services and data is not collected centrally.
National Health Service commissioners and providers, and local authorities, are required to operate complaints processes and respond appropriately in relation to complaints about their services. National level data on complaints is not broken down to this level of detail.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 17 May (HL7492), which body is responsible for monitoring waiting list times for contraceptive services.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
There is no central body responsible for monitoring waiting times for access to contraceptive services and data is not collected centrally.
National Health Service commissioners and providers, and local authorities, are required to operate complaints processes and respond appropriately in relation to complaints about their services. National level data on complaints is not broken down to this level of detail.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 17 May (HL7492), whether providers of contraceptive services receive financial benefits for prescribing particular types and methods of contraception.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Providers of contraceptive services receive funding from commissioners for the provision of services. It is for commissioners to decide whether to put incentive schemes in place to encourage the prescribing of particular contraceptive products.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 17 May (HL7492), how they ensure that women are made aware of their entitlement to free contraceptive services.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has mandated upper tier local authorities to commission comprehensive open access sexual health services, including free provision of contraception, in their area.
General practitioner practices opting out of providing contraceptive services should inform their patients where they can access contraceptive services. In addition, information on women’s entitlement to free contraception is available online on NHS Choices. NHS Choices also enables women to identify their nearest sexual health clinic.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 17 May (HL7492), what other free clinical services are available to women in areas where GP practices do not provide contraceptive services.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has mandated upper tier local authorities to commission comprehensive open access sexual health services, including free provision of contraception, in their area.
General practitioner practices opting out of providing contraceptive services should inform their patients where they can access contraceptive services. In addition, information on women’s entitlement to free contraception is available online on NHS Choices. NHS Choices also enables women to identify their nearest sexual health clinic.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 1 May (HL7025), what arrangements NHS England has put in place to ensure that affected patients can easily obtain contraceptive services elsewhere.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Due to data protection requirements, we are not able to name the three practices as this could lead to identification of individuals working at these practices.
The current general practitioner (GP) contract allows practices to opt out of providing contraceptive services to their registered patients. For any GP practices opting out of providing contraceptive Services, the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) would advise the local authority that the practices in question were no longer providing that service. The local authority would subsequently ensure provision for the affected patients through their commissioned services. The practices would have to inform their patients on where they could access contraceptive services.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 1 May (HL7025), how many patients are affected by the three GP practices opting out of providing contraceptive services to their registered patients.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Due to data protection requirements, we are not able to name the three practices as this could lead to identification of individuals working at these practices.
The current general practitioner (GP) contract allows practices to opt out of providing contraceptive services to their registered patients. For any GP practices opting out of providing contraceptive Services, the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) would advise the local authority that the practices in question were no longer providing that service. The local authority would subsequently ensure provision for the affected patients through their commissioned services. The practices would have to inform their patients on where they could access contraceptive services.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 1 May (HL7025), which three GP practices opt out of providing contraceptive services to their registered patients.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Due to data protection requirements, we are not able to name the three practices as this could lead to identification of individuals working at these practices.
The current general practitioner (GP) contract allows practices to opt out of providing contraceptive services to their registered patients. For any GP practices opting out of providing contraceptive Services, the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) would advise the local authority that the practices in question were no longer providing that service. The local authority would subsequently ensure provision for the affected patients through their commissioned services. The practices would have to inform their patients on where they could access contraceptive services.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to commit funds to the Law Commission to allow it to commence its review of surrogacy laws.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
A budget has now been agreed to support the Law Commission’s project about surrogacy.