Some oral contraceptive pills will soon be available without a prescription.

Oral contraceptives will be available at chemists without a prescription for a $45 fee following a re-classification by Medsafe, but not everyone is happy about the change.

Doctors say women could be left with less access to medical care, while women's advocates say the cost does not address financial barriers to contraception for some women.

Under the change trained pharmacists will be able to dispense a three month supply of oral contraceptives to women who have had them prescribed by a medical practitioner within the past three years.

About 10 brands and strengths of combined oral contraceptives and progesterone-only pills including Brevinor​, Norimin​, Noriday​, Ava 30 and Ava 20 will be available in chemists in three to four months after pharmacists have received approved training.

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Women under the age of 16 years and first time users would not be eligible to access oral contraception from a pharmacist under the re-classification.

New Zealand Medical Association chairman Stephen Child said the change may reduce time women have with their doctor and "undermine that therapeutic relationship both of which are important aspects of prescribing the oral contraceptive pill".

Additionally, the proposal did not encourage the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception, shown to be more effective in practice than contraceptive pill use, he said.

The change was welcomed, in principle, by Women's Health Action for increasing access but the high cost did not address financial barriers.

"That's not going far enough. If we're just shifting the cost from the GP to the pharmacist I would question how beneficial the change is," Women's Health Action strategic adviser George Parker said.

Endometriosis New Zealand chief executive Deborah Bush said the change was a great initiative to improve access to contraception but had the potential to be problematic if oral contraception was being used for menstrual irregularities and pain.

She said oral contraceptives are frequently prescribed to control dysmenorrhea (painful periods), one of the symptoms of endometriosis, but if a woman was not in the care of a GP or specialist gynaecologist the symptoms may be masked and prevent diagnosis, optimal treatment and potentially compromise her fertility downstream.

"At the very least these trained pharmacists should have an appreciation of the diseases that cause pelvic pain - and that can be very complex."

Green Cross Health – the organisation behind Life and Unichem Pharmacies – lobbied for the change since 2014.

Group manager Alison Van Wyk said the change was not about "one health professional replacing another".

"What we have done is added another option for consideration, which is pharmacists."

She said any pharmacist with concerns about a presenting woman would refer them back to their GP.

The process of considering the proposal had involved extensive reviews and consultation with academics, doctors and consumers, Van Wyk said.

ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES IN NZ

- Customers must be between the ages of 16 and 39 for the combined oral contraceptive, and between 16 and 52 for progesterone only pill.

- Between 140,000 and 202,000 women in New Zealand take an oral contraceptive.

- Pharmacies can supply up to six months' supply of oral contraceptives on repeat prescriptions when they have been previously prescribed by a medical practitioner in the last three years.

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