Babies of mothers with PND at risk due to shortage of beds

MOTHERS suffering from postnatal depression are being left at risk of harming their babies due to a perinatal bed shortage, doctors have warned.

Medics say that babies are being left at risk of being harmed by their mothers because the NHS is unable to find room in treatment units for both of them.

The British Medical Association’s annual meeting in Brighton heard from Dr Kelly Cruickshank, a liaison psychiatrist from Salford Royal Hospital.

She said: “We had a lady who was brave enough to come to A&E to say that she felt unsafe due to her mental illness.

“She had an established diagnosis of depression prior to becoming pregnant, she had been maintained well during her pregnancy but in that postnatal period she began to struggle.”

The woman had been happy to be admitted to hospital – until she was told she would have to leave her baby.

Dr Cruickshank said there were only 131 perinatal beds in the UK.