Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he Department is taking to improve the performance of the NHS in supporting women who experience birth trauma.

The NHS Long Term Plan includes a commitment that 66,000 women to access specialist perinatal mental health services by 2023/24. An estimated 52,000 accessed support in the 12 months to March 2023, over 60% higher than March 2021.

Alongside the expansion of specialist community perinatal mental health services, new services (called Maternal Mental Health Services) which combine maternity, reproductive health and psychological therapy are being established for women who experience moderate to severe or complex mental health difficulties arising from, or related to, their maternity experience. This may include those who experience post-traumatic stress disorder following birth trauma, perinatal loss or severe fear of childbirth (tokophobia).