Maternal mental health services care lacking

The Maternal Mental Health Alliance has said that pregnant women and new mothers in a quarter of the UK still cannot access lifesaving specialist perinatal mental health services.

New data shows that pregnant women and new mothers in 24 per cent of the UK still have no access to specialist perinatal mental health services, which meet national guidelines, finding that there is not progress for all parts of the country at the same rate leaving women facing a postcode lottery.

The alliance’s Everyone’s Business Campaign, which last ran in 2015, argues that more than one in 10 women develop a mental illness during pregnancy or within the first year after having a baby. Having accessible, specialist care can help mothers with quality of care, speed of recovery and emotional support.

Dr Alain Gregoire, chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, said: “Over ten years ago national guidelines said that specialist perinatal mental health services should be available for all women who need them. This still hasn’t happened. We want to celebrate the new perinatal services that have been set up, but these maps show that there is still an urgent need for change on the ground. For women and families to be able to access specialist services, we need to see funding across all four nations of the UK. The job is not yet done. Women and families across the UK need this map to turn green.”