This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Guidance for perinatal mental health services
04/03/2004
New guidance for those developing care for new mothers
experiencing mental ill health, including postnatal
depression, is published today.
Developed by the Short Life Working Group on Perinatal
Mental Illness, the guidance is designed to assist NHS
Boards and partners in their planning for delivering care
services and accommodation to allow mothers with a
perinatal mental illness - including post natal depression
- to be admitted to hospital with their babies.
Mothers-to-be will also be included in this guidance.
Admission arrangements for mothers accompanied by their
babies are a requirement under the Mental Health (Care and
Treatment) Act 2003 which comes into effect in April 2005.
NHS Boards, in consultation with their partners in the
local authority and the voluntary sector will decide the
shape of services. The template prepared by the Working
Group gives guidance to aid this consideration so that
services best meet the needs of mothers and babies.
Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said:
"The care and treatment of women who experience mental
ill health after they have given birth is of the utmost
importance not least for the continuity of the essential
early bonding between mother and child.
"I commend the inclusive approach the Group has taken
throughout the consideration process and I thank the Group
for their work. I particularly welcome the swiftness with
which the Group has undertaken its task: providing this
guidance now will assist in informing NHS Boards and their
partners during planning process as they move towards
implementation of the provisions of the Act.
"In preparing the guidance, the Group considered
material and advice already available and visited existing
services. The guidance is a useful template for the best
organisation of perinatal mental illness admission and
aftercare services and has been specifically designed for
use as a planning and audit tool. Mothers and mothers-to-be
will also be able to refer to what they can expect if the
need for such services should arise.
"Currently, NHS Boards are working with local authority
and voluntary sector partners in preparing Joint Local
Implementation Plans which will set out the arrangements
planned locally or on a regional basis for implementing the
new Mental Health Act.
"Planning perinatal services facilities and services for
mothers and their babies will form an important part of the
improved services and support set out in the new
legislation in addition to those services already being
developed such as the new dedicated inpatient ward shortly
to be opened by Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trust at
the Southern General."
The Chair of the Group, Karen Robertson, Nurse
Consultant Perinatal Mental Health, NHS Greater Glasgow,
said:
"The Group has developed guidance to ensure that mental
health services being developed for needs of mothers,
mothers-to-be and their babies are the most appropriate
they can be. The attention being paid to these important
services is most welcome. I know that changes made to
exiting services and the development of new services will
bring about significant, continuing improvement in the care
for mothers and mothers-to-be."
The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) 2003
received Royal Assent on 25 April 2003 and can be accessed
at:
www.hmso.gov.uk
The National Mental Health Services Assessment Final
Report was published on 1 March 2004 and can be accessed
at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/publications and
www.show.scot.nhs.uk/mhwbsg