How accessible is the morning-after-pill in Greater Manchester?
Greater Manchester NHS ranks second for number of pharmacies offering free emergency contraception – but does this reflect real accessibility for women in the region?
There were 578 community pharmacies under Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board registered to the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service as of June 2025 – according to NHS Business Services Authority data.
Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are the NHS organisations responsible for planning health services for a local population.
North East and North Cumbria ICB ranked highest with 580 pharmacies registered to the service – placing Greater Manchester ICB in a very close second out of a total of 42 ICBs in the country.
Free Emergency Contraception
Pharmacies registered to the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service are able to provide patients with free emergency hormonal contraception (EHC).
There are two main types emergency contraception pill:
Levonorgestrel – brand name, Levonelle – should be taken within three days of unprotected sex.
It costs between £9.99 and £26.49 for a single dose, outside of an NHS prescription.
And Ulipristal acetate – brand name ellaOne – can be taken within five days of unprotected sex.
It costs between £30 to £34.95 for a single dose, outside of an NHS prescription.
Access to the free morning-after-pill at community pharmacies currently varies from place to place – but is set to become universally available without charge across pharmacies in England later this year.
The announcement came in March this year – after criticism that accessibility varied dramatically by postcode.
What does this mean in Greater Manchester?
Of the 673 community pharmacies in Manchester 85.9% are registered to provide free emergency hormonal contraception under the NHS.
With such a high percentage of community pharmacies in the area registered to the service, it should be easy for people in Greater Manchester to access emergency contraception free of charge.
But those who have tried to access the service this year say otherwise.
Emma* is a 22-year-old student in Manchester.
She said: “I’m an adult woman who has had to get the morning-after-pill twice in my life, most recently this May whilst living in Manchester – and the hoops you have to jump through make it really difficult to access.
“When I bought it in Manchester, I thought I’d just do the easiest thing and Google where I could buy it off-the-shelf.
“I know some pharmacies offer it on the NHS and some don’t – but I didn’t know where to start and I didn’t want to waste my time trekking round the city and asking that question.
“But when I got there I realised you can’t actually walk in and buy it – you still need to speak to a pharmacist.
“With it being the weekend, there was a huge queue, so I waited – but when I got to the front I was told there was a four-hour wait to see the pharmacist.
“The lady on the counter said I didn’t need a prescription to buy it ‘off-the-shelf’, but someone needed to ask a few questions before it could be sold to me.
“She recommended I go to a walk-in medical centre – but when I pointed out the wait time at an NHS Walk-in centre on a Sunday was likely to be ever longer, I was sent to a branch of a different pharmacy.
“I still couldn’t get it – because the pharmacist there was on their lunch break.
“I had to order it for next-day-collection in the end – I did an online questionnaire, a doctor approved it and I went and picked it up.
“That was an easy way of doing it.
“But it meant buying the most expensive option so I could take it a day later than I had wanted to without risking effectiveness.
“Funnily enough I noticed that the first pharmacy I went to actually do offer the standard morning-after-pill on the NHS, so I probably would’ve got it for free if I had waited – but I couldn’t stay there for four hours, I had work.”
Emma’s story highlights that despite the high number of pharmacies in Greater Manchester registered to provide free emergency contraception – barriers to access remain.
And she’s not the only one.
Gemma*, a 23-year-old sales assistant from Manchester, said: “It’s the kind of thing you never think of until you need it.
“I had to get it earlier this year – but I paid for it it wasn’t free.
“It was a Saturday afternoon, and I had thought about going to a sexual health clinic to get it on the NHS, but then I searched for the closest one and found out that all sexual health clinics in Manchester were closed.
“I haven’t had to buy it before, so it’s the first time I’ve properly thought about the cost.
” I didn’t feel like I could afford to take my time trying to get it on the NHS – it was a necessity.
“But £30 seems a lot of money when there are so many pharmacies here registered to provide it for free.”
Limited opening hours
Sexual and reproductive health services in Greater Manchester are provided by the various integrated clinics under The Northern Sexual Health, Contraception and HIV service.
Of their 10 clinics that offer emergency contraception universally only 2 have any weekend opening hours listed – Salford Sexual Health Service Clinic and The Hathersage Clinic, are open on Saturdays from 9:15am -12:00pm, and 9:15am- 11:15am respectively.
All clinics are shut on public holidays – and opening times across all are often restricted to either morning or afternoons.
What do weekend and early-afternoon closures mean for accessibility?
The top Google-hit under “Where can I get emergency contraception in Manchester?” is a link to information provided by Manchester City Council.
The webpage advises that women of all ages can get emergency hormonal contraception, free of charge from their GP surgeries, selected pharmacies, and The Northern Sexual Health, Contraception and HIV service.
But at the peak periods when emergency contraception is being searched for in UK – these Greater Manchester services are at their least accessible.
Google Trends data looked at over a 30-day period tells us that peak searches for the term ‘morning after pill’ were all on weekend dates.
With limited weekend opening hours at sexual health clinics in Manchester – in most cases community pharmacies may be the only option for women in Manchester to access the morning-after-pill – despite Emma’s story revealing this is sometimes not a viable option, whether the pharmacy offers the service on the NHS or not.
Greater Manchester ICB and The Northern Sexual Health Service have been contacted for comment.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the sources.
Featured photo: Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition on Unsplash
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