Thousands of women confront mental health issues in thriving community perinatal scheme

Thousands of women confront mental health issues in thriving community perinatal scheme Thousands of pregnant women have confronted mental health issues before they become more serious thanks to a thriving perinatal mental health service in Devon.

Since it began five years ago the ten-strong Devon and Torbay Perinatal Health Team has identified, supported or signposted thousands of women who needed mental health support.

Now, all of the women who give birth every year in the three acute hospitals in Devon and Torbay are asked by midwives about their mental health and those who report concerns or are at risk are referred to the team.

In the last three years, 5,698 of the 22,715 women who gave birth needed the service. All of those women received evidence based advice, either in a letter, following a telephone conversation or in response to a face to face assessment. NHS England