Women are often recommended different types of contraception depending on their age, however this needs to change, a GP has insisted.

According to Dr Deirdre Lundy, co-ordinator of the Irish College of General Practitioner's Women's Health Programme, ‘leaning towards particular forms of contraception for certain age groups prevents medical professionals from thinking outside the box'.

She noted that younger women are ‘typically offered' options such as the oral contraceptive pill, the implant, injectable contraception and condoms. Women who are spacing out their children are often recommended contraception such as the copper coil or Mirena coil, while older women ‘may contemplate sterilisation', but often continue with the coil.

Dr Lundy also said that it is ‘striking' how many women over the age of 45 ‘believe their fertility has so diminished that they no longer use contraception of any kind'.

"The spike in unplanned pregnancy rates among this age group confirms how inaccurate that belief may be," she insisted.

She said that medical professionals in this area are being urged to take a more modern approach to contraception choices ‘for all demographics'.

For example, younger women are often offered the oral contraceptive pill, however they are ‘much more likely to experience failures because it requires daily compliance'.

As a result, GPs and nurses are being advised to offer more long-acting contraception choices to younger women, such as injectable contraception, which is administered every three months.

Dr Lundy added that contraception is ‘only as reliable as the patients' willingness to use it'.

"The more convenient a product is to use, the more attractive it is for the patient. Healthy women may be offered any reversible method of contraception as long as they don't have any category 4 (absolutely contraindicated) risk factors. Age alone is never a category 4 risk."

Dr Lundy made her comments in Modern Medicine: The Irish Journal of Clinical Medicine.