IUD uptake among Australian women could be boosted if GPs had the option to provide a rapid referral to dedicated long-acting reversible contraceptive insertion clinics, Melbourne researchers suggest.

The team — led by GP academic Professor Danielle Mazza from Monash University — say rolling out a network of such clinics would also address the “glaring need” for increased training in the procedure. 

Their proposed solution follows a secondary analysis of data from a small randomised controlled study involving 57 GPs based in metropolitan Melbourne.

As part of the Australian Contraceptives ChOice pRoject (ACCORd) study, 25 participating GPs underwent six hours of online training in contraceptive counselling and had access to two long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) rapid referral clinics: one that bulk-billed and another that charged an average $224 out-of-pocket fee.