Results Of Pilot Study On Early Medical Abortions In Community Medical Settings Published, UK

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 08 May 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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The Department of Health published the results of a pilot study into early medical abortions carried out in non-hospital settings, looking at how to improve access.

The study shows that large community contraceptive centres, cottage hospitals or polyclinic type settings could offer a safe, high quality service for women.

It shows that some women welcomed the informality and increased availability of staff support. This confirms the experience from other countries which already offer EMA in non-hospital settings.

Medical professionals will now be consulted on whether early medical abortions (EMAs) should be made available in non-hospital settings and patients will be asked if this would be a preferable option for them.

Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said:

"Our priority is to reduce the time women have to wait for an abortion at what is already a very difficult time for them. We have made considerable progress in this, with 65 per cent of women having their abortion at under ten weeks in 2006, up from 51 per cent in 2002.

"We want to investigate whether patients can be more comfortable and feel as supported in a less clinical setting such as in a large community contraceptive centre.

"However, the safety of patients must remain paramount and we will now consult with the local NHS and patients to find out whether there is a demand for such a service and how it could best be delivered."

One of the key aims of the Government's sexual health strategy is to reduce unintended pregnancy rates through offering improved contraceptive services.

£26.8m has been invested for 2008/09 to improve women's access to contraception and to better inform women about their choices. Some of this money will be focussed initially on areas with higher abortion rates.

Notes:

1. The pilot took place in a community hospital and in a stand-alone unit within an acute hospital; both had the required proximity to hospitals in case of emergency.

2. The two pilot sites were Chalfont and Gerrards Cross Hospital and St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. Three comparator sites also took part to enable researchers to make direct comparisons between the non-traditional pilot sites and more traditional forms of provision.

3. EMA is the termination of a pregnancy up to 63 days gestation using drugs.

http://www.dh.gov.uk