Boots has extended its online treatment service, enabling patients to book pharmacy appointments for contraception, erectile dysfunction, weight loss and cervical cancer vaccination services through its website.

The new online appointment booking system allows patients to book face-to-face consultations with pharmacists in 200 of Boots' larger stores for these services.

Following consultations in store, women will be able to access oral and long-term contraceptives, as well as the cervical cancer HPV vaccine.

The booking system builds on Boots' existing online services, through which patients can access medicines for malaria prevention, smoking cessation, acne, male hair retention and period management following an online consultation with a prescriber.

The online services would offer a more convenient alternative to GP appointments, Boots said. "Many women in the UK use oral pills or the long-term injection as a convenient and effective form of contraception, but sometimes finding the time to visit the doctors for these can be a hassle," a spokesperson said.

And Boots said the cervical cancer vaccine could benefit women who hadn't received it on the NHS.