Decision report 201003830

Summary
Miss C complained that she was not given adequate information and advice by the board before she had a contraceptive implant fitted. She said that this resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. Miss C was also unhappy with the support given by the board when she discovered that she was pregnant.

We found that the board had given Miss C adequate information and advice before the implant was fitted. A full and comprehensive assessment was carried out and appropriate information was noted. Miss C was told that they could not rule out the possibility that she was already pregnant, as she had recently had a contraceptive failure. They also gave her condoms and told her that she should use these for the next seven days. However, we found that the board failed to tell Miss C’s GP that the contraceptive implant had been fitted, despite having her consent to do so. That said, they had already reminded staff about this and had apologised to Miss C, so we made no recommendation. When Miss C said she was pregnant, however, they failed to tell her about a counselling service that was available so we made a recommendation related to this. There was no evidence that staff acted unreasonably when Miss C told them that she was pregnant, or that they gave her misleading or untruthful information when the implant was removed. In addition, we found that the board dealt with her complaint in line with the complaints process in place at that time and responded to all of the issues Miss C raised.

Recommendation
We recommended that the board:
• consider drafting a protocol for use when a failure of contraception is discovered. This could include discussing any need for counselling.