New perinatal mental health service for Coventry and Warwickshire | Our News

New perinatal mental health service for Coventry and Warwickshire

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Pregnant women and new mothers in Coventry and Warwickshire will benefit from an innovative local mental health service being introduced on 1st November this year.

The Perinatal Mental Health Service has been set up by Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust in conjunction with South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust, and will work with women who are pregnant, or in the first postnatal year, who are experiencing serious perinatal mental health difficulties.
 

These might include issues such as birth trauma; psychosis; depression; anxiety; complicated reactions to loss, such as stillbirth; tokophobia (an intense and disabling fear of childbirth); obsessive compulsive disorder, or; needing support with medically complicated pregnancies such as placenta praevia or a multiple pregnancy. 

This service is particularly exciting as it represents collaboration across three Clinical Commissioning Groups, two NHS Trusts, three teams, three acute hospitals and a range of community settings. 

Sue Drewitt, Perinatal Mental Health Service Team Manager for Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust said: “Previously, the perinatal mental health services that women were offered depended on which local area they lived in, but from 1st November, we are extremely pleased to be offering a full range of services across Coventry, Rugby, north and south Warwickshire.

“Women will now have access to clinical psychology, psychiatry and community psychiatric nursing staff who make up the Perinatal Mental Health Teams based in Coventry, Warwick and Nuneaton. Our new teams will also liaise closely with other relevant services such as maternity, social care, Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) and local charities.”  

Dr Kirstie McKenzie-McHarg, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Lead for Perinatal Psychology, said: “By setting up this service, we can offer women and their families the right care, at the right time. Early support and intervention is known to have a profound and significant effect on the development of the baby at the time, as well as later in life.

 “The Maternal Mental Health Alliance last year estimated that the cost of perinatal mental illness is approximately £8.1billion annually, most of this represented in long-term impacts for the baby. Coventry and Warwickshire are leading the way in demonstrating state of the art, high quality care provision for its population.”

 

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