Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, England (Contraception) 2021/22

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)

There were 9,762 sterilisations performed in NHS hospitals in 2021/22, an increase of 27% on 2020/21 (7,657), a period heavily affected by the Covid pandemic. The long term trend is otherwise downwards, with the 2021/22 total 35% lower than ten years ago in 2011/12 (14,960).

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. The number then stabilised until 2019/20 at around 11 to 12 thousand per year.

8,531 vasectomies were performed in 2021/22, 27% higher than the heavily Covid pandemic affected year of 2020/21 (4,487), but still 30% below the last pre-pandemic number in 2019/20 (12,157). 

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For more information: Data tables 1 and 12