Mind the gap: voluntary sector pregnancy advice service

This article describes a voluntary pregnancy advisory service in a deprived inner city area and summarizes some descriptive statistics kept relating to one year (2000). The evidence suggests that this service was acceptable to women in the local area and frequently used by them. Possible reasons why the service may be acceptable are discussed, followed by an attempt to explore how such voluntary sector organizations could work in partnership with the health services, both by supplementing them, and also by providing an interface between the local community and the health services to encourage appropriate and effective use of the statutory services by more marginalized members of the communities which they serve.