Free morning-after pill service used by hundreds of thousands

How the morning-after pill scheme works

Between October 2025 and March 2026, pharmacies dispensed close to 305,000 doses — more than the roughly 150,000 NHS prescriptions issued in the whole of 2024/25. Women can now have a confidential consultation with a pharmacist and receive the medication the same day, ending what the government called an “unfair” postcode lottery. Requests about the regular oral contraceptive pill also more than doubled, from around 50,000 to over 115,000 in the year to February, part of a wider push alongside other NHS health drives.

This is a major step forward for women’s health — no appointment, no waiting and no judgement.

That was the verdict of Dr Sue Mann, NHS National Clinical Director for Women’s Health, who said the service was already making a real impact, “particularly for women living in more deprived communities, by making contraception easier to access closer to home”. Women can still access emergency contraception privately, but the free pharmacy route is fast becoming the most-used option.