FSRH consultation response: FSRH responds to inquiry on core NHS services during and beyond Covid-19
Date: 18 May 2020
Type: FSRH Consultation Responses
The Health and Social Care Select Committee has launched an inquiry into the planning and delivery of essential NHS and care services during the pandemic and beyond. Amongst other areas, the inquiry focuses on how to achieve an appropriate balance between Covid-19 and “ordinary” healthcare demand and ensuring that positive changes that have taken place as a result of the pandemic are not lost as services normalise.
In our submission, we argued that the post-pandemic landscape offers significant opportunities to tackle the commissioning challenge that has hindered the delivery of effective person-centred SRH care post Health and Social Care Act 2012, whereby delivery of services is fractured between NHSE, Local Authorities and CCGs. To enable positive change to last, it is imperative to revisit the question of whether SRH services should be brought back under NHS auspices.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in significant disruption to SRH services in the UK. As such, we have presented the main results of our rolling Covid-19 members survey and outlined our current position on contraceptive provision now that changes to the Covid-19 lockdown have been introduced. We have also made recommendations to ensure positive changes are here to stay in areas such as remote care; regulatory change in abortion and contraceptive care; postpartum contraception; and digital infrastructure.