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Nurses warn on morning after pill
By Isabel Oakeshott, Health Correspondent, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 30.04.03Nurses will today call for tighter regulations on the way the morning-after pill is handed out by chemists.
They fear many pharmacists are selling the emergency contraception to women without proper medical checks.
Under Department of Health guidelines, chemists are expected to carry out a routine health assessment before agreeing to supply the medication.
Nurses believe many are failing to ask enough questions - encouraging some women to use the drugs as an alternative form of contraception.
The morning-after pill has been available over the counter to women aged 16 or over since January 2001, at a cost of around £24.
Until then, the medication was only available from doctors at GP surgeries, hospitals and sexual health clinics.
During a debate at the Royal College of Nursing's annual conference today, nurses will warn that some suppliers are failing to warn customers about potential side-effects and to check that the medication is suitable for them.
The morning-after pill acts on hormones to prevent an embryo forming and is 95 per cent effective if taken within 24 hours of intercourse.
But it can trigger side-effects, such as nausea and vomiting, and must not be taken if there is any possibility the woman is already pregnant.
A motion calling for the regulation of assessment for emergency contraception is expected to receive widespread support. The call comes as new government figures show that the number of cases of syphilis in south London has doubled since the beginning of the year.
