Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support mothers with post-partum depression.

We are committed to ensuring that all women and babies receive the safe, personalised, and compassionate care they need, at all stages of pregnancy and post-partum.

A range of specialist mental health services have been made available to women during the perinatal period. For women with, or at risk of, mental health problems, who are planning a pregnancy, who are pregnant, or who have a baby up to two years old, specialist perinatal mental health services provide care in all 42 integrated care system (ICS) areas of England. For women experiencing mental health difficulties directly arising from, or related to, their maternity or neonatal experience, Maternal Mental Health Services are operational in 41 of the 42 ICS areas in England, with the final ICS in England due to launch their service by the end of Quarter 1 of 2025/26. Additionally, 165 Mother and Baby Unit beds have now been commissioned, with 153 currently operational. These units provide inpatient care to women who experience severe mental health difficulties during and after pregnancy.

NHS England’s guidance sets out that all women who have given birth should be offered a postnatal check-up with their general practitioner (GP) after six to eight weeks. This check-up provides an important opportunity for women to be listened to by their GP in a discreet, supportive environment, and for women to be assessed and supported not just in their physical recovery post-birth but also their mental health.