Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what specialist treatment is available for mothers suffering post-natal depression in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England.

In Coventry and Warwickshire, the commissioned perinatal mental health pathway provides treatment for post-natal depression including specialist multi-disciplinary team assessments, a dedicated perinatal specialist general practitioner and advanced nurse practitioners who are early years specialists.

In the West Midlands, support is provided across the Black Country and West Birmingham for early identification of post-natal depression and access to specially trained staff. In the Birmingham and Solihull area, there are the Perinatal Mental Health Specialist Community Services and the Acacia Young Parent’s Project. In the Herefordshire and Worcestershire area the Maternal Mental Health Service offers targeted psychological interventions.

The NHS Long Term Plan includes a commitment for a further 24,000 women to access specialist perinatal mental health care by 2023/24. Specialist community perinatal mental health services have now been deployed across England and we are expanding access to talking therapies within specialist perinatal mental health services through 26 hubs by April 2022.