|
Local trust welcomes
pledge to better mental health for new parents
A local health trust welcomes news
today that David Cameron pledges to 'provide every pregnant woman and
new mother with specialist NHS help for psychological problems related to
childbirth.'
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) provides several
'early help' specialist services to support mums and families across
its footprint.
Tania Stanway, consultant psychiatrist, is clinical director for Child and
Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) at CWP and also the chair for
Cheshire and Mersey clinical perinatal group and Cheshire and Mersey
strategic perinatal group.
She says:- "Mental health problems are the leading cause of death for
women in the first year of their child's life. This startling fact
highlights the importance of perinatal mental health and support for new and
expectant mums. Health visitors, school nurses, community mental health
teams and GPs all play a part in the bigger picture when it comes to
promoting better mental health.
At CWP we are taking part in national research which will allow us to
continually develop and improve the service we can offer, in order to make
things better for mums and their families. At the heart of this is
making our services easy to access and supporting people whether they have
used our services before or not. We also have links with well established
local groups that are often a haven of support and are great ways to meet
people in a similar position."
Annuncia Skeldon is the team manager of the Parent and Infant Mental Health
Service (PIMHS). CWP's PIMHS team is based in Wirral. She comments:-
"Pregnancy and early infancy can invoke overwhelming anxiety as well as
excitement for some parents, and we know that the first two years of a
child's life are crucial for their development. The quality and content of
the relationship with their parents is central to this, and we offer support
to parents who may be experiencing difficulties.
We focus on supporting the relationship between the parent and infant, from
unborn babies to infants up to the age of two. We work with other
professionals to offer a full package of support to families."
For more information please visit CWP's public
website
and CWP's CAMHS
website.
|
