Mums and babies at the heart of new Perinatal Service

The Community Perinatal Mental Health Service is designed to increase awareness of mental illness and offer support and interventions to women through their pregnancy and up until one year after birth, thereby improving the health and wellbeing of women, their children and their wider families.

The Perinatal Service, which was officially launched in May 2022, is delivered by a multidisciplinary team comprising of Consultant Psychiatrists, an Obstetrician, Mental Health Nurses, a Midwife, a Health Visitor, a Social Worker, an Occupational Therapist and Clinical Psychologists.

Health Minister Robin Swann said: “I was pleased to visit the team and see first hand the vital service that they are providing for women and their families across the Trust area. When I became Health Minister I made a clear commitment to improve perinatal mental health services and reaffirmed this when launching the Northern Ireland’s new 10-year Mental Health Strategy June 2021.

“The introduction of the community teams is an important step forward for perinatal mental health services in Northern Ireland but we know there is more to do. To this end, my Department has begun preliminary scoping and analysis work for the establishment of a Mother and Baby Unit for the region.”

One service user said, “I cannot thank the Perinatal Team enough for their support, attention to detail and simply excellent patient care. They ensured I had a pregnancy and a birth plan suited to me and my diagnosis of Bipolar. Becoming a mum with a mental health condition is a scary and challenging time. I simply cannot express how much of a positive difference the team made to me. There is a great need for such a service here in Northern Ireland.”

The practitioners in the team also work closely with their colleagues in the other developing Perinatal Mental Health Teams regionally, creating peer support structures to facilitate shared learning. The team has also established strong working relationships with other services and agencies, including Home Treatment Teams and Community Mental Health Teams.