B**P REWIND: Supporting the mental health of pregnant women
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Two and a half years ago, we featured the story below. Yet only last week it was announced that a study from Bristol University has proven that depression and anxiety have risen dramatically amongst pregnant women. 25% of pregnant women under the age of 24 have high depressive symptoms. Let’s just hope that this money eventually filters down to those pregnant women who need it, but two and a half years on, we have to wonder.
Pregnant women and new mothers will receive mental health support as part of a shake-up of care services, the NHS has said.
£390 million will be allocated from NHS funds to provide specialist care for women suffering from pre- and post-natal depression, under plans to be announced on Monday by the health giant. The changes will come after NHS England’s Mental Health Taskforce made recommendations in a report which will be released in the next few weeks, and which will include increased maternity mental health care.
£247 million will also be spent training staff in hospital A&E to deal with mental health cases, so that appropriately trained staff will be on call 24 hours a day.
Paul Farmer, the head of the NHS Taskforce and the chief executive of charity Mind, expressed pleasure that mental health was “getting the attention it deserves”, but campaigners are still quick to call mental health care the NHS’s “Cinderella Service” and accuse the health service of allocating insufficient funds for relevant care. Whether these new plans will change any of that will only be seen once they come into effect.