The proportion of women in Buckinghamshire on long-term contraception fell by more than a tenth following the pandemic, new figures show.

It follows the national trend, with the figures revealing 9% fewer women had access to long-acting reversible contraception in 2022 than in 2019, before the pandemic.

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities figures show 49.4 per 1,000 women in Buckinghamshire aged between 15 and 44 were prescribed long-acting reversible contraception in 2022 – which includes the non-hormonal copper coil, hormonal coil, and the hormonal implant.

This was down from 58.1 in 2019, but a slight increase from 49.1 per 1,000 women the year before.

In Buckinghamshire, 35.1 per 1,000 women aged under 25 and 49.9 per 1,000 women aged over 25 cited a form of LARC as their main method of contraception in 2022.

Meanwhile, across England, the proportion of women prescribed short acting combined hormonal contraception in 2022 was 8.1 per 1,000, meaning it halved compared to a rate of 16.1 in 2019.

The figure stood at 11 per 1,000 women in Buckinghamshire – down from 21.2 three years prior.

Dr Janet Barter, president of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, said: “Access to the full range of contraceptive methods, including LARC, is a fundamental right.

“A combination of funding cuts and fragmented commissioning services means that care is not structured around women’s needs, negatively affecting access to essential healthcare.

“We call on the Government to take urgent action to address these barriers."