We need to ACT NOW

The Everyone’s Business campaign’s Call to ACT focuses on three key areas, which you can find out more about by clicking on the links below:

Accountability

Community

Training

In order to ensure all women throughout the UK who experience a perinatal mental health illness receive the care they and their families need, wherever and whenever they need it, the campaign is focussing particularly on the following right NOW:

New government funds provided for specialist perinatal mental health services are not wasted, absorbed elsewhere or misspent. They should deliver well-planned and coordinated services.

This is because:

  •  In the past, national funding pledges have not necessarily been translated into new services on the ground
  • Despite encouraging funding announcements, there is no legal obligation for CCGs in England to spend these funds on the specialist perinatal mental health services they are intended for. This is why we want each CCG to plan how it will spend its money now.

Outstanding areas of need must be funded in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales

This is because:

  • Despite clear SIGN guidelines, the Scottish government has yet to pledge funding for urgently required specialist perinatal mental health services.
  •  Despite clear NICE guidelines, the Northern Ireland government has yet to pledge funding for urgently required specialist perinatal mental health services. In addition, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland still do not have one Mother and Baby Unit.
  • Despite welcome funding being pledged for specialist perinatal mental health services in Wales, the nation still does not have an adequate level of services or a Mother and Baby Unit

Women and families must have access to specialist multi-disciplinary perinatal mental health services as part of a joined-up pathway of care their standard integrated pathway of care.

This is because:

  • Without an integrated perinatal mental health care pathway which features clear referral mechanisms, there is a real risk that women and families will not receive the right support at the right time, even though the specialist services they need exist.
  • It will ensure that other health and social care professionals have access to and receive ongoing training and advice from specialist perinatal mental health teams in their area. These professionals include GPs, health visitors, midwives, practice nurses, obstetricians, mental health professionals, and staff from voluntary and community organisations.

 

Download our campaign call

To help you ACT NOW, please download our campaign call and use it in your campaigning.

It’s only with your active support that we can ensure local decision makers, providers and commissioners heed the campaign calls and that women and families – in every area of the UK – will be able to access the right perinatal mental health support at the right time.