New mums have to go to England for support
MOTHERS who need mental health support after giving birth are being forced to travel to hospitals in England because Wales has no facilities to meet their needs.
In some cases mothers are having to travel up to 10 hours, said Dr Sarah Witcombe-Hayes, who led research into the subject.
The study was a joint project between NSPCC, National Centre for Mental Health, Mind Cymru, Mental Health Foundation, supported by the Maternal Mental Health Alliance’s Everybody’s Business campaign.
The report states that the mental health needs of women after birth are varied but can include treatment and support for depression and anxiety, along with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Dr Witcombe-Hayes said a Welsh facility is essential.
There have been plans tabled since last summer but no decision by the Welsh Government has been made on the issue.
It said it is exploring options for delivering the service with money invested in community perinatal mental health services.
Campaigners have been calling for a dedicated new unit since a specialist unit in Wales closed five years ago.
Dr Witcombe-Hayes, who works with NSPCC Cymru, said: “Having to access mother and baby provision in England has quite a detrimental impact on women and their families.
“Women told us they were either having to travel very far to access these specialist provisions – sometimes a seven to 10-hour journey, when a woman is acutely unwell – or they were being treated in inpatient psychiatric units within Wales without their baby and no space for their partner or baby to visit.”
She added: “It is vital that Wales has provision for a mother and baby unit for women experiencing the most severe conditions.”
The report said: “Not having MBU (mother and baby unit) provision in Wales creates emotional and financial consequences for women and their families. “
Health professionals gave emotive accounts of women and their families having to travel significant distances to be admitted to MBUs in Nottingham, Derby, Exeter, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Staffordshire.
There has been progress, however – the report outlines that six out of seven health boards across Wales now have a dedicated perinatal mental health service.
The exception is Powys Teaching Health Board, which has not implemented a service.
While there have been improvements, the report concludes that inconsistencies remain in the level of care offered by specialist community perinatal mental health services in Wales.
The report recommends that “the Welsh Government should provide additional funding to health boards to address disparity in the level of perinatal mental health service provision and to ensure that these specialist services are able to provide all aspects of care that women need”.
A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “Since 2015 we’ve invested £1.5m a year in community perinatal mental health services across Wales, which help identify, treat and manage mental ill-health before and after childbirth.
“We are exploring options to ensure mothers can receive more intensive and inpatient perinatal support in Wales.”