A NATIONAL report has slammed the mental health support available to pregnant women and new mothers, but Pennine Acute NHS Trust has insisted Bury’s provision is adequate.

The NSPCC’s All Babies Count report claims perinatal mental illnesses, including anxiety, depression and psychotic disorders, affect more than one in 10 women during pregnancy and in the year after birth.

It states 73 per cent of the UK’s maternity services fail to provide a specialist mental health midwife, 64 per cent of primary care trusts do not have a perinatal mental health strategy and 50 per cent of mental health trusts do not provide a specialist perinatal service.

But while highlighting the “huge gaps” in the services available to families, the NSPCC say support available across the borough is better than average.

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust runs Fairfield Hospital in Bury and the maternity ward at North Manchester General Hospital and their consultant midwife, Eileen Stringer, said: “We do have a mental health midwife who primarily covers communities in Oldham and Rochdale but is available for specialist advice to our community midwives across the trust.

“We have an excellent mental health pathway which considers the needs of all the women in our care and was contributed to by psych-iatrists and a perinatal health psych-iatrist.

“It gives us access to the Greater Manchester perinatal mental health service based in Wythenshawe Hospital.”

The NSPCC recommends that every area should have a specialist mother and baby unit to look after new mums while preventing traumatic early separation from their babies.

It states: “Mental health needs to be given parity of esteem with physical health in the work of primary care services.

“Gaps mean we are failing to prevent the harms caused by perinatal illnesses — jeopardising the current safety and wellbeing of women and children and their future life chances.”

Dr Peter Elton, director of public health for Bury, said the topic of perinatal mental health was a very important one.

He said: “There is often a concentration on post-natal depression, but depression also occurs in pregnancy and may continue through the birth.

“For years, we have required health visitors to screen women for depression in the post-natal period and to offer health visitor counselling to those women who screen positive.

“We are presently looking at combining our services to young mothers through the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) and to other young members who are excluded from the FNP by offering other services.”