The Prime Minister has announced a £290 million investment in perinatal mental health services in the five years to 2020, to give all mothers with serious mental health problems access to specialist support. This might be through perinatal classes, new community perinatal teams and more beds in mother and baby units.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, told the Guardian: “At the moment about 40,000 women who are pregnant or within the first year of having their baby have a severe mental health problem. But of those 40,000 only about 10,000 are at the moment getting access to specialist perinatal mental health services. Three out of four are missing out. But by the end of the decade we are going to make that a universal offer, so all 40,000 will get access to a local specialist team.”
