Maternal mental health is a critical aspect of healthcare provision and timely access to appropriate care is paramount for the well-being of both mothers and their newborns. A report published by The Guardian has revealed staggering delays in the provision of maternal mental health care to expectant and new mothers in England. It found that mothers are facing prolonged waiting times which are having a detrimental impact on their mental health, leaving countless women to grapple with their struggles without adequate support.
The Guardian revealed that almost 20,000 women a year, living with mental health problems triggered by being pregnant or giving birth, are being denied support by the NHS. One in four mothers develop mental health problems as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, which can include trauma experienced during the birth process and can result in the mother experiencing problems bonding with her baby. Common conditions include postnatal depression as well as anxiety, psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder that emerge after the birth. In the most extreme cases, the mother will start to self-harm or be at risk of a very serious outcome.
The current circumstances have been described as “an absolute scandal” and have ignited warnings that regulating this vital care could result in mothers becoming incredibly vulnerable and prevent them from bonding with their children. It is of the utmost importance that such women have the support they need and deserve to safely navigate such a crucial and overwhelming period.
Figures regarding this issue have come to light because of freedom of information requests made by Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour’s former shadow minister for mental health, to England’s 54 mental health Trusts. The figures showed that in 2022 11,507 women sought care for such issues but did not get any support after they had been assessed. Worryingly only 34 of the Trusts provided data, meaning that 20 failed to do so, despite their legal duty to fulfil such requests for information.
Dr Allin-Khan told The Guardian:
“It is an absolute scandal that new mothers are facing long waits for mental health services and all too often end up being turned away. No mother should be left behind to suffer in silence.
“We know all too well how important the first 1,000 days of a child’s life are. Failing to support new mothers during this crucial period will have an unfathomable human cost.”
Whilst these worrying figures suggest that women are being refused help, Dr Alain Gregoire, the President of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, said the “unacceptable” situation was mainly due to most services trying in vain to meet demand despite having sometimes significant shortages of doctors, nurses and therapists. Adding that:
“Staff are working absolutely flat-out but can’t deliver the amount of care they should be delivering… they are having to make clinical decisions about who gets priority. No one is saying ‘don’t see this woman’. They just don’t have the capacity to do it. It is rationing of care at a clinical level because there just isn’t the capacity to deliver that care, largely because there aren’t enough staff.”
NHS England did not respond when asked about the large number of women whose pleas for care are being rejected and the long waits that Dr Allin-Khan uncovered or offer any explanation for them.
But Angela McConville, the Chief Executive of parenting charity, NCT, said:
“The lack of mental health support services for pregnant women and women in the postnatal period is now at a stage where we would consider them to be dangerously patchy and unreliable. Access … remains a postcode lottery.
“Services are inconsistent and poorly-resourced, with long wait times that are detrimental to the long-term health and wellbeing of new parents and their babies.”
Comment
The issue of huge delays in accessing maternal mental health care in England is a stark reminder of the urgent need for reform within the healthcare system. The well-being of mothers and their newborns is at stake. The maternal mental health of expectant and new mothers must be prioritised.
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Carolle White is a Legal Director and Chartered Legal Executive in our Medical Negligence team, which is ranked in Tier One by the independently researched publication, The Legal 500.
If you require any advice or if you have any questions regarding the subjects discussed in this article, please get in touch with Carolle or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
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