Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, England (Contraception) 2019/20

This part includes data on sterilisations and vasectomies taking place at SRH services and in NHS hospitals. NHS hospitals data is extracted from NHS Digital’s Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). See part C of the Appendices for a full list of sterilisation and vasectomy HES procedure codes. 

A female sterilisation is an operation that necessitates a stay in hospital, and so all data relates to NHS hospitals.

Vasectomies may be performed as operations requiring a hospital stay, or as procedures in outpatient departments and SRH services clinics. Most are performed as day cases in hospital outpatient departments.

Sterilisation procedures by year (NHS Hospitals)

The number of sterilisations performed in NHS hospitals has fallen from 16,003 in 2009/10 to 12,144 in 2019/20, a decrease of 24%. The figure in 2019/20 was 6% lower than in 2018/19 (12,939).

Vasectomy procedures by year (SRH services and NHS Hospitals)

Prior to 2015/16, there had been a long-term decline in the number of vasectomies performed, with the number falling by half (50%) between 2009/10 (20,735) and 2014/15 (11,113). Since then the number has remained at around 11 to 12 thousand per year.

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For more information: Tables 1 and 12, Sexual and Reproductive Health Services (Contraception), England, 2019/20