Blackpool Council Annual Health Report 2019 Blackpool Council Annual Health Report PAGES | Page 37

Teenage pregnancy is a cause and consequence of education and health inequality for
young parents and their children. Teenagers have the highest rate of unplanned pregnancy
with disproportionately poor outcomes; in particular, babies born to mothers under 20
years had a 30% higher rate of stillbirth than average and a 60% higher rate of infant
mortality than average (England and Wales data).
Despite Blackpool’s under-18 conception rate being approximately double that of England,
over the past few years we have managed to narrow the gap. In order to continue this
trend, new actions are needed and we need to be innovative.
Reduction in first and subsequent pregnancies has contributed to improving under-18
conception rates. We have worked to increase the uptake of long-acting reversible
contraception (LARC) by co-locating Sexual health and Termination of Pregnancy (ToP)
services, enabling all women presenting for a ToP to have timely HIV/STI testing and
seamless access to LARC.
In Blackpool, the Council has always prioritised reducing teenage pregnancies, but as we
have the highest under-18 conception rate in England, we are redoubling our efforts.
To ensure consistent best practice in all schools, a new PSHE scheme has been developed,
concentrating on sexual health and relationships consent, drugs and alcohol and emotional
health. Teachers and other school staff are trained in awareness of risky behaviours, a
local support forum for PSHE leads has been set up. All schools have participated, with
overwhelmingly positive feedback from pupils and positive comments from Ofsted in
individual school inspection reports.
To strengthen targeted prevention, a domiciliary care pathway has been developed to
enable joint visits with staff working with vulnerable young people, mental health, drug/
alcohol and learning disabilities. Domiciliary visits are working effectively as a multiagency
approach, engaging with individuals who have previously not engaged with services and
with a fast track to the LARC method of contraception.
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