NHS waiting lists for coil fitting causing unplanned pregnancies

[BlueKittens]

AIBU to think that the long waiting lists to fit the (Mirena) coil are causing unplanned pregnancies? Obviously sex and failed alternative contraception is a big factor too, but don’t women have the right to timely contraception provision?

I’m currently a few months pregnant after twice being unable to secure an appointment for a coil fitting at my surgery. There wasn’t even a waiting list for appointments, I was told to come back to check if any appointments were opening up for three months time- and both times was told to come back again. GP won’t put me on pill due to risk and depot caused a reaction. DH refusing vasectomy as he knows someone who suffers chronic ball ache.

Lucky for me it’s a happy little accident, but I can’t help feeling this might be quite devastating for some women.

It’s not just my surgery. Two friends at different surgeries have just told me they have had difficulties getting an appointment too. One is waiting 5 weeks for hers and the other is on a waiting list for when an appointment becomes available, has been told a 3+ month wait. The problem is with the high level of demand and the fact that only one person in each of our surgeries can fit it.

Nevermind the personal costs of unwanted pregnancies- they cost the NHS too in terms of abortions, care etc. It just seems crazy to me, but I guess it’s not a priority in the overstretched NHS.

Your husband sounds like a right pain in the bollocks.

@HelenaDove I used the contraception available to me at the time!!!! Including no PIV because nothing else was available!

Stop trying to tell me my life.

OP

DIDN'T WANT CERTAIN FORMS OF CONTRACEPTION BECAUSE SHE AND HER DH LOVE EACH OTHER MORE THAN ME AND MY DH!!!

I think my favourite part of this thread is the apparently genuine suggestion that it might have been quicker for the OP to book in for an elective surgical procedure requiring an operating theatre, an anaesthesist, a surgeon and theatre nurses, seeing as she was having problems with the waiting list for coil insertion. In this financial climate? There are people waiting for medically essential surgeries!

I have issues with access. I can only have the Injection after having a blood clot on my lung due to the combined pill and issues with a coil and implant in the past. This needs to be given every 12 weeks which is not an issue....However; there is only one nurse which provides it in the practice, she only works between 2:30 and 4:30 on a Thursday. It can only be booked a minimum of 2 weeks in advance and for most working people this is an impossible scenario (especially when I don’t get holidays with my job inside of term time). The last time I had to book it with the doctor (whose appointments can only be made on the day) and it took my 2 weeks of trying the only weekday I don’t work to get an appointment where she told me off as I was outside the 13 week period of time. I’m not allowed to fall pregnant on the medication I am taking as it is untested. The alternative the doctor has given me is the injection, but a prescribed form, that I give myself at home once a month. So far it works out better for me but I can imagine others having the same issue with access but being unable to inject themselves, not to mention those trying to get coils or implants. I wouldn’t blame them for any potential child as I know the risks myself and understand that if I want to be 100% safe I should refrain until I have correct contraception in place, but it does make life more awkward

DIDN'T WANT CERTAIN FORMS OF CONTRACEPTION BECAUSE SHE AND HER DH LOVE EACH OTHER MORE THAN ME AND MY DH!!! don't think she said that...

Huh? This thread has gone tits up and a bit confusing. But I think it’s important to point out that anal and post pregnancy haemorrhoids don’t go together😂 Just in case anyone was thinking that would be the perfect way to avoid a second, third or fourth baby.

a postcode lottery then THIS

*@JamieVardysHavingAParty
*

Also why should we abstain from PIV sex while we wait more than 7 months for an appointment to become available? We are in love and enjoy regular intimacy.

Intimacy for OP is measured by PIV sex, luckily my relationship when we couldn't have PIV sex still contained lots of intimacy!

@Hideandgo 😂😂😂 of all the suggestions to avoid a pregnancy anal skipped my mind, yet I imagine surprisingly effective!

My husband is one of the unlucky ones left with chronic pain after Vasectomy, he has to have nerve blocking injections every 6 months and is trying pulsed radio frequency next time - he still wouldn’t tell other men not to have the snip, he was just unlucky, It still carries far less risk than Female sterilisation.

Lol at the indignant digs. I’m so glad that we’re all confident we’re better than each other. Makes it a level playing field ultimately.

Intimacy for OP is measured by PIV sex, luckily my relationship when we couldn't have PIV sex still contained lots of intimacy! You're the one that chose to take that as a slur on your relationship.

Whilst it's great the coil exists and waiting lists ideally shouldn't be so long, the coil is not the only option.

@JamieVardysHavingAParty Mo slur on my relationship, I'm just actually laughing and grown adults saying "why shouldn't we have PIV sex"

Then posting an inflammatory title slating the NHS and staring that it's responsible for unwanted pregnancies .... it's not!

While I think such a long wait for contraception is totally unreasonable, I have no idea why suggesting other methods would make someone a woman hater. The NHS is facing cuts in all areas which means all areas of healthcare is going down the pan, quite frankly. Also, the OP had a fair point but over egged it a little by blaming the NHS for causing the pregnancy.

Its a cut that disproportionately affects women.

There are a whole load of contraceptive options. Choosing not to use contraception and choosing to have unprotected sex is down to the grown adults who chose to have unprotected sex. It's not the fault of the NHS. (Bangs head on wall repeatedly)

@SunnySkiesSleepsintheMorning OP could access contraception though...... just not the one she wanted!

Charlie97 Mon 24-Sep-18 16:33:12

"@HelenaDove the last time I knew the baby belongs to and changes the life of both mum and dad, not just mum! Far from my being a woman hater, you sound like a man hater" So all the threads that on here about how the life of the man doesnt change and he can swan off of a weekend are a figment of our imaginations then. When Child Maintanance is dealt with and collected properly then it may affect the life of the man just as much. If a law was brought in that it was a criminal offence not to pay it vasectomies would shoot up. Its women who do most of the child rearing and childcare and being expected to leave off work to pick up kids when they are sick. All of this STILL disproportionately falls on women These ARE cuts that disproportionately affect women.

The NHS cuts have nothing to do with access to contraception

Stealth where does my post say NHS cuts It just says cuts

God this thread really is invasion of the judgy fuckers. The NHS provides contraception free (i.e. not even subject to prescription charges) not out of the goodness of its own heart, but because providing free contraception is cheaper than dealing with unwanted pregnancies. It pushes LARC (long acting contraceptives - pushes them much too heavily in my opinion, but that's another story) for the same reason - because they have much lower failure rates than condoms (witness OP's experience) or even the pill (screwed up by missing a dose, tummy bugs, antibiotics etc.) OF COURSE A 7 MONTH WAITING LIST TO GET A COIL FITTED IS UNACCEPTABLE IF YOU WANT TO REDUCE THE BIRTH RATE IN THE COUNTRY OVERALL. Good for all of you, as individuals, for having the self control to use abstinence, or being happy to take it up the arse or whatever other stupid suggestions have been made on this thread (keeping your legs closed, ffs - what is this, the fucking 1950s?) But as an exercise in using epidemiological evidence to drive public health policy, your suggestions are flat out idiotic.

Sorry not a direct response to you. General comments on thread about NHS cuts. Including the last post. It's important to know why these cuts are happening and its not cuts to the health budgets.

Although other than that inaccuracy I agree with fermat fully :)

Ah i see Apologies Stealth.