Mental Health Services: Mothers

(asked on 24th January 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department is doing to improve the diagnosis of mothers suffering with post-natal mental health problems.


Answered by
Jackie Doyle-Price Portrait
Jackie Doyle-Price
This question was answered on 31st January 2018

The Department is investing £365 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 in perinatal mental health services and NHS England is leading a transformation programme to ensure that by 2020/21 at least 30,000 more women each year are able to access evidence-based specialist mental health care during the perinatal period. This includes access to psychological therapies and specialist community or inpatient care.

A key element of the programme is to increase awareness and skills across the workforce, supporting better identification and diagnosis of perinatal mental illness, early intervention and consequently improved recovery rates. In addition, there are over 570 perinatal mental health visitor champions. Their role is to support health visitors with the identification and management of anxiety, mild to moderate depression and other perinatal mental disorders, and knowing when to refer on.

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