A specially designed unit will soon open to provide care for new mums with severe mental illness from across a large part of Scotland.
The Mental Health Mother and Baby Unit, at St John’s Hospital, Livingston, has been established by the health boards in Lothian, Borders, Fife, Highland and Tayside.
The mother and baby unit will be run by trained nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers all skilled in looking after mums with severe mental health problems in the first year after child birth.
It is staffed and equipped to enable mums to be admitted with their babies. The service will also help ensure that more is done throughout the board areas to identify women suffering from depression, both during and after pregnancy, and provide them with the best care.
The unit will be formally opened by Deputy Health Minister, Lewis Macdonald on Wednesday, 13 December. The first referrals will take place early in the new year when all the recruits for the new team will be in place.
Mr Macdonald said:“Our new mental health legislation made a commitment to create units of this kind to provide specialist mental health care and support for women, without the need to be separated from their babies.
"The established unit in Glasgow and the developing arrangements for Forth Valley and Grampian are providing specialist mental health care for women who are either pregnant or have just given birth across the whole of Scotland.
“We are committed to building an NHS that cares for patients in their own communities, wherever possible, while providing centres of excellence for those who need specialist support.”
Gillian Wilson, the team leader, said: “The service and the unit are a tremendous advance in the care of women who are suffering from perinatal mental illness. Mums who need admission to the mother and baby unit will receive the best, care, support and treatment without needing to be separated from their baby. The team will also support partners and other family members.
“Each year large numbers of women across these board areas experience very unpleasant symptoms, which can include the most terrible feelings of anguish, due to perinatal mental health problems.“Our new team will help ensure that the many health professionals they encounter during and after pregnancy know how to recognise the signs and how to provide help.
“The unit at St John’s will have a vital role in providing a safe, comfortable, therapeutic and family-friendly environment for the small number of women who could really benefit from spending some time in hospital alongside their baby. As well as spreading best practice throughout the NHS in the five boards the team will also provide direct community care for patients in Lothian.
Mike Grieve, St John’s Hospital director of operations, said: “I am delighted that this important new service and unit are being based at St John’s.
“It is another example of how the hospital is increasingly being used as a centre for highly specialised services providing the best and most advanced care for patients from across Lothian and elsewhere in Scotland.”It is important for as many healthcare professionals as possible to be alert to signs of perinatal mental health problems as the symptoms are ones that women are often reluctant or find difficult to discuss.
The good news is that once the problem is identified patients can be supported and offered effective treatment. The unit is a bright, friendly, comfortable place with flexible facilities where expert staff will help the mother recover and to improve the opportunity to bond with the baby. There are six bedrooms, quiet areas, and communal spaces where people can get together.
EndsIssued: December 2006. NHS Lothian Communications
Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:04:19
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