MNHQ here - NHS England pledges specialist mental health services for new mothers

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hi,

We'd love to know what you think about today's announcement by NHS England - more than £20m will be spent on specialist mental health services. The health service is rolling out community perinatal services to underserved parts of the country and NHS England has confirmed these services will be accessible to new and expectant mothers in every part of the country within the next year.

Please tell us what you think - do you think more needs to be done? Will this make a significant difference?

Mumsnet is currently campaigning for better postnatal care - our survey results on postnatal care, including effects on mental health, are here.

Thanks
MNHQ

I think it will help however tackling post natal health alone won’t cut it. The trauma I suffered post birth was caused entirely by the treatment I received by staff. The csection and haemorrhage were fine I took them in my stride. Staff failing to obtain consent, opting to ignore written guidelines and lack of compassion caused me significant trauma for a long time. This could have all been avoided as could the amount of tme the staff had to put in to investigate and respond to my complaint and agree that staff had to be retrained. Along with the cost, including legal checking their response.

Consent is also something that must be addressed. Pregnant and postnatal women are told they ‘must’ or ‘should’ Or ‘have to’. I understand hospital staff are under pressure but consent is so important.

I wouldn’t treat anyone the way I was treated. It felt like an assault.

Posted too soon.

I think it’s great that money is being invested in this. But it’s also important that the birth and pregnancy doesn’t create mental health issues.

43percent, I'm so sorry to hear about your experience. Perinatal mental health teams do support women who have experienced birth trauma, with evidence based psychological interventions. They also offer training to midwives and obstetric teams about this issue: most importantly, that an obstetrically straightforward birth does not mean that the patient can't experience it as traumatic. I hope you received the help you needed to deal with your trauma.

This is good news but if my maternity ward had been adequately staffed I would never have ended up with PTSD. It was caused by being left entirely on my own while in labour, and no one coming even when I pressed the buzzer repeatedly (DP was with our ill son in hospital so I was absolutely on my own and terrified as contractions came thick and fast and no one came)

I will live with PTSD for the rest of my life. Prevention is better than cure. It would have been far cheaper to have adequately staffed the labour ward than it has been to pay for all my expensive medications/ psychologist/ CPN/ psychiatrist/GP appointments / time out of work (am civil servant)

That said, it is better than nothing that there is some investment in post natal mental health. I was very very suicidal before I got any help, and even then only because a family friend was able to pull strings. I feel I was overlooked because My children were still thriving and well cared for, but inside I was desperate and honestly am not sure I would be alive today if that family friend hadn’t pulled strings

It is fine but you need to look at why there is poor mental health post birth. It is a tricky time and I needed practical support (someone to make tea and food and help with baby) - if practical help isn’t there then no amount of counselling nor medication would have helped.
I don’t know how you address this though. Insisting on partners or extended family involvement is key but it isn’t possible for everyone.

It's brilliant news. I spent 8 weeks in a mother and baby psychiatric unit. The perinatal team saved my life. But there are only 6 beds in my area. Some women that were in with me had spent weeks in normal psychiatric wards without their babies.

It looks like a really good initiative. I hope the funding is new and ring fenced - i cant really tell from that article. Preventing and treating mental illness health perinatally ought to have a positive impact on the mental health of mothers and of their children, and likely their partners too.

I just hope that the restrictions in funding on general adult mh services, which I believe were a contributory factor to my husband's suicide in February, aren't the source of this funding. Squeezing one service until the pips squeak, then suddenly holding up a big glass of juice for another service, is a familiar sequence of events.

This is BS. Use FOI to request what cuts mental health trusts are having to make this year. 'Extra spending' that the government trumpets about seems to be smoke to disguise the fact that they're drastically cutting funding for mental health trusts. I'm still traumatized by the birth of my daughter nearly 5 years on. Never have I been offered support

@4yearsnosleep its not entirely bullshit.

In Nottingham we are just opening a purpose built unit for mothers and babies . Its important to note also that whilst a lot of perinatal issues can be attributed to trauma , there are many others that arent .

For example where the mum has pre existing diagnosis of severe mental illness - ie schizophrenia or bipolar , or where the hormones in pregnancy and existing bio chemistry can lead to purpeural psychosis.

I have seen some really positive developments in M & B care over the past 20 years ... but there is still a long way to go.

What is positive is that health visitor training is actively recruiting mental health nurses , to improve early detection of PND and issues around trauma and PTSD.

Inpatient services for mothers and babies nationally though are still way under resourced. Our unit receives referrals from all over the country , so admission criteria is sadly very tight.

Pledging is something the NHS do well. However, wards are typically understaffed - I have a former colleague who was a highly competent and diligent midwife who had to leave midwifery as she couldn't tolerate the risk that was happening every day on the wards. We've overall got a shortage of nurses and mismatch over numbers coming in vs numbers going out that no one appears able or willing to tackle. Less people are entering nursing due to the lack of financial aid.

They haven't got the resources for child and youth mental health so forgive me for total scepticism on this one. And even if the money is genuinely there, they've thrown a load at it already and it's not resulted in genuine improvements plus the overall lack of midwives and nurses and other cuts smacks of money just being moved around.

I actually believe that this top down funding often fails to deliver value for money or the benefits it sets out to do and I do with the NHS would learn this. You've only to look at the Academy of Fabulous Stuff which is full of innovative, cost-effective initiatives from the minds and hearts of the staff on the ground, doing the job, that genuinely produce positive change and service improvement. Sadly the government is still stuck in the vein of 'if we throw money at it that'll sort it out' and it's just not that simple. And if you look at £20m - it's nothing, really, across an entire country.

What the hell Felicity? So women that kill themselves due to PND is just something that happens and shouldn't be dealt with? There are a large number of health issues that are self induced or not managed by self care that cost a fortune to the NHS. PND is not one of those conditions

Hi,

Thanks everyone for commenting and for sharing your experiences We really appreciate your responses.

MNHQ