‘THE UK’s health services are hopelessly underfunded in terms of resources and staff who are trained to deal with new mothers with mental health issues,’ Lee Wright, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery and Women’s Health at Birmingham City University, said yesterday.
He was responding to a report produced by the London School of Economics and the Centre for Mental Health which highlighted the long-term cost of more than £8bn stemming from mental health problems.
The report shows that one in five women develop some form of mental health issue during pregnancy and the months after childbirth.
Most common is post natal depression and anxiety, never-the-less some women suffer from bipolar disorder or the onset of schizophrenia, triggered by the stress of pregnancy and child birth.
The calculation of £8.1bn includes an estimation of the wider cost to society through loss of earnings. However a fifth of the costs are bourn by the public sector including the NHS and social services, which the report argues would be reduced if the symptoms were picked up earlier.
Midwives and health professionals made it clear that the source of the problem is a lack of staff due to government cuts, with maternity units being closed up and down the country.
Lee Wright continued: ‘Postnatal care has been cut to the bare minimum which means detection is very unlikely before it’s too late.’
‘Diagnosing mental health changes can be a challenge especially as midwives may discharge women before symptoms develop and women may not share their feelings’ said Alison Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at Birmingham City University.
‘As with any mental illness, because symptoms are not physical and there is such a stigma still associated with depression, women may not admit to how they are feeling and families may not pick up on the signs,’ added Edwards.
‘15% women will suffer from antenatal mental illness in the first trimester of pregnancy – mostly anxiety and depression. 10% of recently delivered mothers can experience postnatal depression of which 3-5% is severe.’
