The data collected by Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Huge delays to access maternal mental health care in England called a scandal, 5 December) rightly highlights the urgent need to provide pregnant women, women who have recently given birth and those who have experienced complications of pregnancy and childbirth with better access to mental health support.
Every mother knows pregnancy can affect the mind just as much as the body. Postnatal depression, psychosis, OCD, PTSD and similar conditions can have a devastating impact on families and the ability for new parents to enjoy time with their babies and other children. We wouldn’t expect someone to wait 19 months for life-saving surgery, so why is it acceptable for people with serious mental illness to wait that long for treatment?
While timely mental health care for new parents is key to healthy childhood development, we know that many pregnant women and new mothers feel isolated and vulnerable. In my experience, community perinatal mental health teams and maternal mental health services want to provide patients with the best care possible, but a lack of staff can prevent them from seeing everyone quickly. This needs to be addressed through secure funding, and better recruitment and retention policies that support all services across the country.
Many women and their families are in a position where they have to juggle multiple concerns, such as debt and insecure housing, which can significantly affect their mental health, wellbeing and recovery. We all need to come together as a society to support mothers across the board to enable them to reach their full potential. Research consistently tells us that investing in maternal mental health yields long-term benefits for families and significantly improves outcomes for children.
Dr Cressida Manning
Chair, perinatal psychiatry faculty, Royal College of Psychiatrists
