To ask the Minister of Health to detail the number of (i) expectant; and (ii) six months postpartum mothers admitted to general psychiatric wards in (a) 2022; (b) 2023; and (c) 2024, broken down by Health and Social Care Trust.

There are no specific guidelines in place to support postpartum mothers admitted to general mental health wards.

In BHSCT, all post-partum mothers in the Acute Mental Health Inpatient Centre (AMHIC) are nursed in side rooms for privacy. They are followed up by the Community Midwives and are supported during their admission by the AMHIC Multi-Disciplinary Team, which includes Psychiatrists, Mental Health Nurses, Social Workers (including Family and Child Health Social Workers), Psychology and Occupational Therapy. The AMHIC Team work closely with Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital, the SWAN (Social Wellbeing Antenatal Team), the Perinatal Mental Health Team and community teams (Mental Health, Midwifery and Health visitors) to provide holistic care and treatment to post-partum patients in AMHIC.

The South Eastern Trust follow the Regional Perinatal Mental Health Guidelines that were agreed by the Regional Perinatal Mental Health Care Pathway network, PHA and SPPG on establishment of the service.

The NHSCT recognises that there is clinical guidance in respect of antenatal and postnatal mental health: clinical management and service guidance.

The SHSCT Bluestone Mental Health hospital, staff follow 2017 Regional Perinatal Pathway. This Regional Pathway is currently being reviewed by the PHA. At ward level, the Admission Checklist is followed for Perinatal patients. Staff will also make contact with relevant teams including Health Visiting, Midwifery, Perinatal Mental Health Team, Breast feeding Nurse Specialist and Social Services if applicable. A QI project commenced in May 2024 in relation to improving communication between Inpatient Mental Health Services and Health Visiting Services. This focuses on Silverwood, Cloughmore, Bronte and Rosebrook Wards. At the point of logging a referral for admission to the wards from Home Treatment Crisis Response or Approved Social Work Service, the Patient Flow Coordinator will ask about children under the age of 5 and will inform the Health Visitor for further support as part of our ‘Think Family’ practices. All wards have ‘Think Family’ Champions identified and a Family Visiting Room. There is also a dedicated outside Child Visiting Garden. Wards are also currently working on a project to develop ‘Keep in Touch’ Tools

The WHSCT follow the Regional Perinatal Mental Health Guidelines that were agreed by the Regional Perinatal MH Care Pathway network, PHA and SPPG on establishment of the service

The Belfast Trust is unable to detail the number of (i) expectant; and (ii) six months postpartum mothers admitted to general psychiatric wards in (a) 2022; (b) 2023; and (c) 2024 by running any of our current reporting systems, as we do not record this information on admission. However, the data below refers to patients that have been admitted, who are also on the caseload of the Mental Health Perinatal Team.

20225

2023<5

20245

Use of <5 (less than five): We are unable to provide an exact figure as the small number involved could make patients personally identifiable. Disclosure would constitute a breach of the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

In NHSCT the recording of post-partum/expectant mother status is not routinely captured. This request would therefore require a manual review/validation of all records held to extract the of information sought.

Therefore, the Trust is applying Section 12 (1) of the FOIA, which states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request, if the staff time taken to determine whether the information is held, locating, retrieving and extracting the information, would exceed 18 hours (at a cost exceeding £450).

The SEHSCT are unable to confirm how many (i) expectant; and (ii) six months postpartum mothers were admitted to general psychiatric wards in (a) 2022; (b) 2023 as this information was not recorded electronically and would require an extensive manual trawl. The Trust can however confirm that in 2024, there were (i) 0 expectant mothers and (ii) 8 mothers admitted within 6 months postpartum to the general psychiatric wards.

The SHSCT have provided the following data:

The Western Trust are unable to confirm how many (i) expectant; and (ii) six months postpartum mothers were admitted to general psychiatric wards in (a) 2022; (b) 2023; (c) 2024 as this information was not recorded electronically and would require an extensive manual trawl.