Maternal Mental Health Debate
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Olivia Bailey
Main Page: Olivia Bailey (Labour - Reading West and Mid Berkshire)Department Debates - View all Olivia Bailey's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
Maternal Mental Health
Olivia Bailey Excerpts(1 day, 12 hours ago)
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Laura Kyrke-Smith
I absolutely do, and I am sorry to hear of the experience of my hon. Friend’s friend.
What are the consequences of all this? The human suffering is immense, but maternal mental health has economic consequences and costs, too—an estimated £8.1 billion each year in the UK, according to research from the London School of Economics, and nearly three quarters of that cost relates to adverse impacts on the child rather than the mother.
I want to suggest four ways in which maternal mental health support can be improved, and I will be as brief as I can. The first is improving specialist perinatal mental health services. The second is better embedding mental health support in routine maternity care. The third is improving community support, and the fourth is education and awareness raising.
Olivia Bailey (Reading West and Mid Berkshire) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend for the powerful speech she is making, and I am so sorry to hear about her friend. Does she agree that we also need specialist support for those experiencing post-adoptive depression? Although they have not gone through the same physical process as birth parents, it can be equally devastating.
Laura Kyrke-Smith
Absolutely—that is one way in which people can experience severe mental health challenges and consequences, and it needs to be considered. I also want to acknowledge that new dads and partners experience mental health challenges too, but given our limited time, I am focusing today on maternal mental health.