pill to be given out without prescription -what's your opinion on this?

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i personally think the arguements about family history are rubbish - the drop in centres that are run don't know your family history do they!

i think its a good idea. i was always to embarassed to go to the doctors about it when i was younger (small surgery - all doctors known me my whole life)and i couldn't go to the drop in centre cos i was 3:30 - 5:30 and i didn't get back from school til after then.

I think it's a brilliant idea. Would be well pis*ed off if I were a pharmacist though after all I'd forgotten that only doctors are capable of asking questions to obtain family history or the only ones able to take a B/P !!

i know that's all they do at the doctors. ask your age, if you smoke and do your bp. im sure that won't take up too much time at the chemist! would surely cut down doctors appointment waiting times which is always a good thing.

Isn't the concern that it wouldn't be on your patient records? That would be my main concern.

My gut reaction says it's a bad idea.

If the aim is to tackle teenage pregnancy, it's like treating the symptoms and not the cause.

Has the pill been sufficiently tested in under 16's?

I also believe GP's don't take due time and consideration with people when prescribing the pill. So just because they don't, it doesn't mean it's ok to have the same lax checks by the pharmacist.

Blimey, I sound like a prudish 70 year old spinster

if you go to a drop in clinic that isn't on your records though either.

what was the problem with family history that meant they wouldn't let you have it?

i think i did have to fill in a survey type thing about family history the first time i got it at the fp clinic thinking about it. if pharmacists are going to be dishing it out i think they need to do the same sort of thing but otherwise it's a good idea.

Well indeed. Sloppy practice in one place doesn't mean it's a good idea to jettison good practice altogether..

Ok it might cut teenage pregnancy but I think STIs will shoot up.

Some people are at risk of stroke if they take the pill and so need to answer a few questions to assess the risk. That's a worry - people LIE to get what they want and end up dead of disabled!!!

However, statistically, that's very few, so it's not like women will be dropping like flies.

A far more real concern would be women using it instead of condoms in casual encounters and young girls being coerced into getting it so the man/boy can not use a condom..etc etc. We already have a chlamydia problem - and that causes fertility problems, syphallis is making a comeback, gonhorrea (sorry for poor spelling of all these!) and the Big Nasty that young people today seem to not be worried about at all - HIV

I think we should be educating people, getting the STD message across better. Frankly, we should be putting the fear of GOD into young people! and we should be throwing condoms at them from all directions, not pushing the pill, which I think should be aimed at women in stable relationships only.

OR disabled. Pardon me.

Ruby - you hit the nail on the head.

agree 100 % with hekate

decent sex ed, including talking about pressure to have sex too young, the emotions, the risk of STIs & HIV and pregnancy would be a lot more effective

have a friend who is a family planning nurse, she treated a teen boy last week for clamydia, caught the first time he had sex, it is absolutely rife, and can be symptomless.. and if not caught and treated, it can cause infertility in women.

education is key, not making the pill easier to get hold of

gives the message that

contraception is a female's responsibility

and

dilutes the message re STIs

My concern with it is the training that pharmacists are going to receive with regard to prescribing to under 16s and the issues of consent, confedentiality, competence and child protection.
These are all points that GPs should be considering carefully and whilst I'm sure that pharmacists are capable I'm not sure that they have access to the same training and an appropriate environment to discuss the issues with the young woman.

As the mother of teen girls, I think it is a good idea

My daughter has accompanied friends to the local FP clinic and trying to get an appointment is so hard, they are so very busy. The girls get the courage to go and then have to wait 3 weeks and then chicken out. Many don't want to go to the GP in case their parents get called.

Sex education should start in the home, we can't rely on schools to teach our children. We are very open here and my kids all know about STIs and how to avoid pregnancy (by having the courage to say no for starters)

One of mine has a steady boyfriend and I know for a fact, that if she gets more serious she knows how to protect herself and will. I have told them to always use condoms but to go on the pill without telling the boy, to protect against all eventualities

I have also purchased for the older ones some condoms, even my 14 year old lad (I want him to be comfortable putting them on and told him to practise, and it saves the sheets for the DIY I know he does lol)

Another way of girls getting contraception can only be a good thing, it's up to us to educate them and to give them the confidence to talk freely about sex and what it entails

i agree with minority. condoms break - it's good to have a back up.

My understanding of it that the pill will remain a prescription only drug, pharmacists can train to become independent prescribers like nurses can and they prescribe just like doctors. They will still have to consult the girl and go through all the details with them, its just widenening access thats all.

the pharmacist would still have to carry out the basic blood pressure checks, but if they would do that, it sounds ok.

but women should still have to visit the gp at least once a year, whilst they're on the pill.

whatever happened to the male pill ?

think its a brilliant idea. i got pregnant very young and it was literally out of sheer shame and inaccessibility that i did not make better use of my knowledege about contraception - i knew full well what to do to protect myself, but I couldn't do it - I wasn't allowed out after school to wait for hours at family planning clinics, nor was I allowed out at weekends apart from one evening a week, when familyu planning centres were shut. If I could have nipped into the chemist on the way home and sorted myself out...well, I wouldn't have my completely fantastic ds now, but I wouldn't have added to our world leading teen mum stats either!

don't take this the wrong way - i'm young and have a ds - but you could have popped into the chemist on the way home to buy condoms could you not? if you did use a condom and it failed then ignore the above comment - that's what happened to me. sort of a situation in the end though.

why the goverment doesn't spend more money in sexual information campaings in the mainstream media?

This country has pathetic levels of information avail to youngsters compared to other european countries.

Shameful!

The pill is no the answer! Girls will be exposed to STD's!

For fuck sake what's wrong with using condoms!!!!!!

FREE CONDOMS! AND MORE EDUCATION!!!

Condoms are already free

Education needs to start at home and we shouldn't rely on the government or schools to educate our children

The only educators our children need is us!

Talk freely of sex, love and feelings, show them how to protect themselves, let them know where to go for protection and give them the confidence to know their own mind and not be pushed into something they aren't ready for and the courage to say no!

It's our job, no one elses

I agree the pill isn't the answer and that our young people will be exposed to STI/D's but they already are. Pill at the chemist for all may be regarded as a sticking plaster but hey the wound is already there....

It still takes alot of "courage" (for want of a better word) to be responsible enough to seek some form of contraception and maybe not having to wait weeks to see a GP isn't a bad thing

When I was at Uni in Dundee free condoms were readily avaliable in assessible places (if you knew where to look) but where I live now I wouldn't know where to start looking ... and would most certainly have to ask someone or provide your postcode if not your name.

Now if you could go to a pharmacy (after all pharmacists are responsible professionals), have the necessary checks AND get free condoms along with my back up pill that might work??

I agree with minorityrules the emphasis should be on education and as mothers it has to come from us. Unfortunately the prudish giggle fest that is often called sex ed at school does no-one any favours!