Abstract

Perinatal mental health is now recognised as a major public health concern. Mental health problems during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatally can have an adverse effect on the mother-baby relationship and can impact on the child's development. Maternal mental health is one of the biggest indirect causes of maternal deaths in England.

With recognition of the need to improve perinatal mental health services, questions were added to the 2009/10 CSM exercise to establish a baseline of service provision in England.

As very little was known about the provision of infant mental health interventions, services indicating that they worked with children aged 0 to 5 years of age were asked if they delivered targeted interventions to promote infant mental health. An analysis of the range of interventions listed is reported in the national summary report (below).

Data issues

Perinatal and infant mental health service questions were introduced in 2009. Information is only available in the 2009/10 reports.

It should be noted that the majority of NHS provider trusts reported provision of one comprehensive maternity service that might extend over more than one site and include a number of midwifery-led or obstetric team units. However, as a few NHS trusts chose to report one or two separate units, the data should be read with care.

Relevant Policy Documents

• National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (2007) Antenatal and postnatal mental health: The NICE guidline on clinical management and service guidance. London: NICE.
• Waterhouse, S. and Freese, C. (2009) National Perinatal Mental Health Project Briefing Paper Perinatal Mental Health Paper
• Lewis, G., (Ed) (2007) Saving Mothers` Lives 2003-2005: The Seventh Report on Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death in the United Kingdom. London: CEMACH.