Commissioning bpas 

Why commission abortion services?
A recent Regulatory Impact Assessment signed by the Secretary of State has calculated the cost of severely restricting abortion as £750 million a year net financial costs, high risk of up to 15 deaths a year, 15,000 extra teenage mothers a year and 12,000 children a year neglected/abused.

These are stark outcomes that demonstrate a quantifiable negative result to limiting or restricting access to abortion. However, it makes sense that any commissioning of abortion services is within the remit of a robust over arching Sexual Health strategy.

Why Commission bpas?

Experience
Over our 40 years of providing abortion services we have been party to many different commissioning and referral structures. It is our experience that eliminating barriers to access by reducing the amount of pre treatment visits a client might have to make to get her referral, allows women to access treatment more quickly. This in turn can contribute significantly to the Department of Health's CHI target (under 10 weeks gestation).

Acccess
The use of "self referral," through a specialist call centre means that there is no need for women to visit their GP or Family planning as they have access to booking appointments immediately. Where women need to firstly visit their GP and/or family planning, plus go somewhere else for her consultation etc, it layers time into the process, risking the client getting further into her pregnancy and having to have a more complex and expensive procedure.

Choice
At the heart of our philosophy is choice for both our commissioning clients as well as for the women who use our services. Having a termination is an emotional process. At bpas we listen the needs of the individual and help her to the right decision for her. Choice for our commissioning clients means we can tailor the referral route to your needs and can work easily with NHS or external partners to deliver a holistic service.

Expertise
Our expertise means you can be assured the highest level of care your patients will receive.

Contracting with us means you can, with confidence, be assured that we are delivering a service that has been designed with your requirements. Defining referral rules early means we do not have to contact you each time a client from your region books an appointment.

With bpas women are provided with easy access to a safe, professional and caring environment for their termination. This reduces the risk of having a later abortion and therefore a more costly or complex procedure.

Other services offered by bpas Healthcare

In addition to abortion, a number of reproductive and sexual health services are now available from bpas Healthcare.   These include:

1. Central Booking Services for abortion, sexual health and contraception.
2. STI testing, treatment and partner notification.
3. Telephone contraception counselling.
4. Contraceptive fitting and removal.
5. Advice and assistance with communication plans, campaigns and websites with sexual/reproductive health content and providing advice on access to services.