Bay of Plenty District Health Board Sexual Health Clinic doctor Lorna Claydon said one of the challenges facing the clinic was the number of young people not using any contraception despite being sexually active.
"They don't want to get pregnant but say issues such as embarrassment, stigma, cost and even opening hours can prevent them accessing contraceptive services.
"I think that is another reason long-acting methods are popular, they're discrete and don't require ongoing follow up."
She suspected fear of pregnancy was a greater motivator for condom use than fear of sexually transmitted infections, so those using long-acting contraception could be less likely to use condoms.
The clinic had dispensed fewer condoms for the first quarter of 2014, compared to the same period in the previous two years, she said.
Jadelle implants and long-acting contraceptives were attractive to younger clients who found the routine of taking a regular oral contraceptive pill difficult, although the clinic did not insert implants or IUDs, she said.
Implants and IUDs could be removed by appropriately-trained GPs and at Family Planning.
Family Planning national medical adviser Dr Christine Roke said "fit and forget" long-acting contraceptives such as Jadelle implants had become popular with varying age groups nationwide, so a drop in other forms of contraceptives was expected as women made the switch.
"The use of these long-acting reversible contraceptives is wonderful ... we are delighted about that."
She was surprised at the decrease in copper IUDs, but said it was possible more women preferred the unsubsidised product Mirena, which was not counted in the Pharmac statistics.
"We think it's still a shame that the Mirena - the hormone IUD - isn't subsidised, and it's just so much more expensive [so] Pharmac haven't been able to subsidise it."
The drop in patients wanting condoms could be attributed to the popularity of implants, as fewer people required condoms for contraceptive purposes.
The Pharmac figures covered medical prescriptions dispensed at community pharmacies, but did not include over-the-counter sold condoms or private sales of emergency contraceptives.
It was possible for patients to have repeat prescriptions, so the number of contraceptives dispensed could be higher than the number of patients, Pharmac spokesman Simon England said.