NHS defends contraceptive implants for teens

9th February 2012 - NHS managers have defended a decision to give underage girls contraceptive implants at school, saying the scheme has helped to cut the number of teenage pregnancies.

The strategy adopted by Solent NHS Trust and NHS Southampton has been criticised by a parent who discovered that her 13-year-old daughter had been fitted with an implant without her knowledge.

The mother, whose identity has not been disclosed, told the city's Daily Echo that her daughter filled out a health questionnaire and underwent a medical consultation before receiving the contraceptive, but received no follow up consultation to check for any side effect. The mother said: "If she has a headache at school, the school calls to ask if they can give her a paracetamol or if she needs a tooth out, before surgery the dentist asks me to sign a consent form - yet my daughter can go to school and have this implanted into her arm, without consulting her GP or parents."

The mother said that since her daughter had received the implant she had experienced mood swings, depression and cut off contact with friends.

Contraceptive implants are 4cm long flexible tubes which steadily release the hormone progestogen into the bloodstream. The device is implanted under the skin of the upper arm by a doctor or nurse.

Teenage pregnancies

NHS Southampton said providing contraception to young people was part of a scheme to reduce the number of unwanted teenage pregnancies. A spokesperson said in an emailed statement that they were "committed to ensuring local young people are able to access clinically appropriate sexual health support, advice and treatment to help them avoid unwanted pregnancies and protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections".

It said one element of this involved providing the service in nine secondary schools and all three colleges in Southampton.

The statement continued: "The service is provided by trained staff and includes offering information, advice and support to students as well Chlamydia screening, condom distribution, pregnancy testing, providing a range of contraception methods and referral to other services.

"Since the service was introduced there has been a reduction in the number of under 16 year olds who have become pregnant."

Guidelines

High rates of teenage pregnancy in the UK prompted the Labour government to set up a 10 year Teenage Pregnancy Strategy in 1999 with the goal of halving the underage conception rate by 2010. Best practice guidance published by the Department of Health state that "doctors and health professionals have a duty of care and a duty of confidentiality to all patients, including under 16s".

It says health managers also have a duty to "prominently advertise services as confidential for young people under 16, within the service and in community settings where young people meet".