The Clinical Effectiveness Unit acknowledges the points raised by Drs Donegan1 and Mansour2 in their letter and commentary article, respectively, published in this Journal. In our initial draft of the missed pill statement, the text was more detailed and included a section on practical application of missed pill guidance in each week of the pill pack.

In producing a statement there is a balance between providing adequate information and losing impact if the text is too wordy. Therefore, on review of the draft statement by the Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) it was decided that for the purposes of the missed pill communication3 the information presented in Table 1 of that document and in the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) statement4 would suffice. More detailed information is now available in the FSRH guidance on Combined Hormonal Contraception published in October 2011.5