PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Abortion: Coronavirus (22 June 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that his Department's review of the use of the HSA4 forms for data collection on complications experienced during home abortions in respect of the implementation of the regulations for home abortions as set out in the temporary provisions under the Coronavirus Act 2020 is (a) comprehensive and (b) impartial; and if he will make a statement.

Asked by:
Bob Blackman (Conservative)

Scoping of the Department’s project to review the system of recording abortion complications data is currently underway and we anticipate this work will be completed later this year. The review will cover all data on complications arising from abortion.

To improve the accuracy of the data collected, the Department will work closely with a range of statutory bodies, professional organisations and abortion providers to identify additional sources of information that could be used to complement complications data collected via HSA4 abortion notification forms and improve the flow of data on abortion complications between different organisations, such as independent and National Health Service abortion providers and wider health and care services.

Answered by:
Helen Whately (Conservative)
29 June 2021