Agenda item

(To receive a report from Tony McGinty, Consultant in Public Health (Health Protection) and Linda Turnbull, Senior Commercial and Procurement Officer, which invites the Committee to consider a report on the commissioning and procurement of Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) and Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC) which is due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services between 3 - 7 December 2018)

The Committee received a report which provided members with the opportunity to consider a report on the commissioning and procurement of Long Acting reversible Contraception (LARC) and Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC), which was due to be considered by the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services between 3 and 7 December 2018.

Officers talked through the report and members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was queried how much it had cost the authority to carry out a full procurement rather than use a light touch regime.  Members were advised that the difference was very little, and would not impact significantly in terms of cost and timescale.  It was commented that it was good practice to test the market.

·         It was noted that a lot of the organisations that provided this service were small, e.g. GP surgeries etc., but they needed to have an accreditation to be able to administer these treatments, and fit devices.

·         It was queried what proportion of GP's provided these services and it was noted that there were contracts with 69 of the 83 surgeries in the county.  It was also queried whether the surgeries providing these services were evenly distributed or if there were any 'cold spots'.  Members were advised that officers were not aware of any cold spots within the county.  Between the Lincolnshire Integrated Sexual Health service (LISH) and GP clinics, it was thought that no one should be very far from access to these services.

·         It was thought that it could be difficult for some practices to engage with training for administering these devices.

·         It was confirmed that this was a mandatory service.

·         Work was ongoing to encourage pharmacies to join the scheme to offer the morning after pill.  It was noted that this was already available from GP surgeries, so work was being focused on take up in pharmacies.

·         It was important to ensure the service was cost effective, and members were advised that the service had been benchmarked nationally.  It was noted that the cost of the medication and devices were reimbursed directly at the prices the practice had paid for them.  The practices were not restricted in what they chose to issue.

·         It was clarified that under the current contract, it was not necessary for young women to pay for pregnancy testing.

·         It was queried by how much the number of tests requested had decreased over time, and it was reported that there used to be between 110 – 120 per year, and this number had reduced to around 13 per year.

·         Concerns were raised about those girls who lived in particularly rural areas and may not find it easy to access these services, and it was queried whether anything was offered in schools.  It was noted that LISH did run specific clinics including 'fly-by' clinics.

·         It was queried why the EHC service stopped after the age of 19, and it was noted that this was due to a judgement of the age at which a woman should be able to look after this herself.

·         It was noted that if someone was presenting at age 21 -25 for EHC they would be referred to LISH for more long acting methods.  It was not the intention that someone should repeatedly be accessing EHC.

RESOLVED

            That the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee supported the recommendations to the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services as set out in the report.