Mental Health Services: Mothers

(asked on 9th July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) improve identification of maternal mental health problems and (b) increase funding maternal postnatal checks.


Answered by
Jackie Doyle-Price Portrait
Jackie Doyle-Price
This question was answered on 15th July 2019

This Government is committed to preventing mental illness and improving health outcomes for new parents and their children.

The NHS Long Term Plan commits to improving access to and the quality of perinatal mental health care for mothers, their partners and children with the ambition to increase access to perinatal mental health services to an additional 30,000 women by 2020/21, with a further 24,000 women to be able to access specialist perinatal mental health care by 2023/24.

From April 2019, new and expectant parents are able to access specialist perinatal mental health community services across England. Specialist care will also be available from preconception to 24 months after birth, which will provide an extra year of support (care is currently provided from preconception to 12 months after birth).

The potential for a six week post-natal maternal health check for all mothers that includes questions relating to mental health, is the subject of further work by NHS England and NHS Improvement to establish a clearer picture of current practice in the area. If taken forward, the check could be introduced from April 2020.

The NHS Long Term Plan Implementation Framework set out plans to provide all areas with an additional funding to support the delivery of mental health priorities – including an expansion of access to specialist community perinatal mental health services in 2019/20.

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