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The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is among several health organisations that are calling for a better approach to contraceptive commissioning in England.
The Society has publicly supported a statement from the Advisory Group on Contraception (AGC), published in December 2025, which said: “The [NHS] ten-year health plan recognises that women have been particularly underserved by NHS fragmentation, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the provision of contraception.”
The statement went on to point out that responsibility for commissioning contraception is currently split between the NHS and local authorities.
The AGC is a group of clinicians, commissioners, professional organisations and advocacy groups that campaigns for better access to contraception, and its statement was supported by organisations including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Nursing.
This split in responsibility leads to regional variation in access to preferred contraception options; a lack of routine commissioning or clear payment mechanism for post-pregnancy contraception; and “highly stretched gynaecology waiting lists”, it added.
Posting on LinkedIn, Sheetal Ladva Kanwar, chief pharmaceutical officer’s clinical fellow at NHS England, who represented the RPS to the AGC in the development of the report, said: “Access to contraception is fundamental to women’s health, autonomy and equality. A collaborative, integrated approach reduces health inequalities, empowers informed choices and improves outcomes, helping every woman live the life she chooses.”
Tase Oputu, chair of the RPS English Pharmacy Board, commented: “Improving access to contraception is fundamental for women’s health, autonomy and equality. The current commissioning system has unnecessary barriers, leading to confusion, variation in access and missed opportunities to provide timely, preventative care. A more collaborative, pathway-based approach that follows women’s needs across their life course, is essential to tackling these inequalities.”
The AGC also called for a women’s health champion in every integrated care system to have a “permanent and protected integrated care board (ICB) role to maintain oversight and accountability of women’s health and contraceptive commissioning”, calling for ICBs and local authorities should be mandated to collaboratively commission women’s health and contraceptive services.
It also called on the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to “issue clear guidelines on expectations for collaborative commissioning of contraception”, adding that the DHSC should consider ways to incentivise collaboration on a national level to deliver coordinated contraceptive and women’s health care to local populations.
“The implementation of the [NHS] ten-year health plan, and shift to prevention-first care led by a ‘neighbourhood health service’, offers a meaningful opportunity to embed more integrated, joined-up contraceptive pathways that are designed around women’s lives and needs,” the statement said.
The NHS ten-year health plan, published in July 2025, said: “The co-location of services into a neighbourhood health centre will be transformative for people who have faced systematic challenges around the coordination of their care. For example, we know that women have faced particular difficulty with NHS fragmentation in the past, and we are committed to women’s health never again being ignored.”
Oputu added: “The move towards a neighbourhood health service is a real opportunity to redesign contraceptive pathways around women’s need, with clearer roles, shared accountability and long-term investment across NHS. Strengthening access to post-pregnancy contraception and embedding women’s health leadership across systems will also be vital.
“Pharmacies play a key role in widening access to timely contraception, including emergency contraception, helping reduce health inequalities and easing pressure on GP practices and sexual health clinics.”
In September 2025, Green Lane Pharmacy in Allerton, Liverpool, became the first pharmacy in the UK to offer an NHS contraceptive implant service, as part of a locally-commissioned pilot, which is aimed to increase access to long-acting reversible contraception options and reduce rates of unintended pregnancies in the area.
From June 2025, pharmacies claiming monthly threshold payments for providing Pharmacy First consultations were also required to offer the pharmacy contraception service.
