HEALTH MATTERS
DR Lesley Bayliss, clinical lead for children at NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG “IT’S a girl!” “It’s a boy!” “It’s a miracle!” There is much excitement at the arrival of a baby. Life is never the same for mum, dad and family and friends.
Excellent maternity care is the foundation for good health and wellbeing in parents and children.
East Cheshire NHS Trust at Macclesfield Hospital carries out 85 per cent of antenatal care funded by NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group and 10 per cent of mumsto-be attend Wythenshawe Hospital, run by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Parent choice has meant that 11 hospitals across the north west have provided care for our mums in the last year and Macclesfield has overseen 23 home births.
It is pleasing to know that East Cheshire NHS Trust’s maternity department was one of just four nationally which performed ‘better than expected’ across all labour and birth questions in the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) Maternity Services Survey 2017. The trust’s maternity department has also received a strong endorsement from local mums in a major national survey. The CQC survey asked women about their experiences of care during labour and birth, as well as the quality of antenatal and postnatal support received. A higher than average proportion of women answered positively.
The department was also given an overall rating of nine out of 10 for maternity care.
The challenges of pregnancy and a new baby can cause mental health and wellbeing issues for some people.
Two out of 10 women develop a mental health problem during pregnancy or within a year of giving birth.
For that reason, the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health recommends specialist support and evidencebased treatment close to home when mothers need it.
The team at Macclesfield is to recruit a midwife specialising in perinatal mental health.
Help is also available via the award-winning CATCH App (Common Approach to Children’s Health) which we developed with NHS South Cheshire CCG and Cheshire East council with Liverpool-based health technology studio Damibu Ltd to support mums from conception until their children attend school.
It provides information about stress in pregnancy, guidance on mental health issues and timely information about childhood illnesses and accidents. The app empowers mums and dads, grandparents and carers to work with professionals to give their child the best start in life.