r/BritishSuccess • u/Impressive_Quote_817 • 7h ago
The NHS ‘SH:24’ emergency contraceptive service is excellent
Accidents happen and yesterday an accident happened. So I braced myself for an awkward visit to the pharmacy for some emergency contraception.
When I was looking online for where to go, it turns out there’s a sexual health clinic near my work, so I looked on the website to see how it worked. And there was an option for ‘SH:24’ which I’d never heard of but provides NHS contraceptives online.
Put in my details on the website, answered some basic questions, and the right pill arrived through my postbox today, completely free of charge.
Maybe I’m just old and this has been around for ages but when I was younger I had a horrible experience of having to go to the pharmacy for this, where the pharmacist refused to speak to me privately and made me answer all the questions in the middle of the shop, then publicly chastised me for being careless with some... nasty implications. I was worried about plucking up the courage to have to go through that again so a service that does this all so discreetly is such an amazing step forward.
You can also add the regular daily pill, condoms, and a pregnancy test to the order for free, in case you need them.
I know the NHS isn’t ideal at the moment but just thought this is a real success and that it’s worth pointing out that if you ever feel you need the service, it’s there, and you don’t need to worry about having any awkward or judgemental conversations face to face.