Call for mother and baby mental health facility

A SPECIALIST mother and baby unit needs to be re-established in Wales to help those suffering with mental ill-health, a report has concluded.

The Assembly’s Children, Young People and Education Committee says the lack of specialist inpatient care for mums with severe perinatal mental illness is “unacceptable”.

The mother and baby unit at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales, which included Cardiff’s perinatal mental health service, was shut down in November 2013.

A petition to re-open the unit was started by Mark and Michelle Williams, from Bridgend, in January 2016 after both experienced postnatal depression.

Now the Assembly committee has backed a move to re-introduce the service so mums no longer have to travel to England for specialist care.

The report found that women had been forced to travel as far as Derby, London and Nottingham – or received treatment in an adult psychiatric unit – separated from their children.

Committee chairwoman Lynne Neagle said for the minority of women with the most severe mental illness during pregnancy and after giving birth, access to a mother and baby unit was “key”.

She said: “We are pleased that our work to shine a light on this subject has already borne fruit, with the Welsh Government committing to develop specialist in-patient mental health support for new mothers within Wales.

“However, we believe that identifying a location for in-patient services that is suitable for women across Wales remains a challenge. While the birth rate in South Wales would sustain a specialist unit, this would not solve issues in North Wales.

“As such we recommend the Welsh Government should work with NHS England as a matter of urgency to discuss options for the creation of a centre in north-east Wales that could serve both sides of the border.”

Mr Williams, who has long campaigned for a mother and baby unit to be re-established, said his wife Michelle was in and out of hospital when she struggled to cope with her post-natal depression.

As a result he also experienced severe mental health problems.

He said: “She couldn’t sleep, didn’t want to eat and didn’t want any visitors. She was finding it very difficult to deal with everyday tasks.

“Depression can hit anyone. I tried everything to make my wife happy. Whatever she wanted I would buy.

“I remember walking through the shopping centre, saying, ‘You can have whatever you want.’ All the money in the world wouldn’t have made a difference to my wife at that point.

“Depression is an illness. We had a new house, good jobs, lots of friends and family support, yet it still happened. It doesn’t matter if you’re a millionaire or someone with no money at all, depression can hit anyone.”

While the committee welcomed the creation of specialist perinatal mental health teams to treat mothers in the community, it recommended that more investment was needed for it to be brought up to standard.

Ms Neagle added: “We have heard from women, their families and from health professionals who have told us that mental health support for women giving birth in Wales needs to improve. It is estimated that perinatal mental ill-health affects up to one in five women at some stage during their pregnancy or in the first year after childbirth, with conditions ranging across a spectrum of severity.”

The report contains 27 recommendations, including calling on the Welsh Government to undertake a public awareness campaign to improve understanding of perinatal mental health conditions and their symptoms across Wales.

They have also called on the Welsh Government to work with the relevant professional bodies to ensure perinatal mental health becomes a core part of training.

Commenting on the report, Helen Rogers, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) director for Wales, said: “In particular we are pleased with the recommendation to have a specialist perinatal mental health midwife placed in each health board with maternity services as this is something the RCM has long supported and campaigned for.

“This report also highlights the need to improve communication between professional maternity teams to ensure that vulnerable women are identified quickly.

“Continuity of care is crucial, particularly for women to feel conformable enough to confide in their midwife or healthcare professional about how they are feeling both during and after pregnancy, and this report again recommends that there should be a named professional lead responsible for each woman’s perinatal care at each health board.”

In response to the report, a Welsh Government spokesman said: “The Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee has been developing options this year to improve perinatal mental healthcare in Wales and we are committed to providing specialist inpatient care in Wales.

“We have been providing £1.5m to develop community perinatal mental healthcare teams in Wales since 2015-16 and there are now community teams in each health board in Wales.”