Maternity & Mental Health
In 2016 Healthwatch England started a project to find out about people's experiences of using mental health services. As part of this Healthwatch Leeds was commissioned by Healthwatch England to carry out some focused work around maternity and mental health. The project comprised of an online and face to face survey and focus groups targeted at parents with experience of mental ill health before, during and/or after pregnancy. It also involved an Enter and View visit to the Yorkshire and Humber Mother and baby unit which provides inpatient support for mothers experiencing severe mental health difficulties. You can read the national Healthwatch England report ‘Mental Health and the Journey to Parenthood’ here
Maternity and Mental Health Focus Groups Report
Here are a few of the things we found during the focus groups, to read the full report click on the image to the left.
Highlights
Many women find it difficult to recognise mental ill health in themselves.
Peer support groups provide useful support.
It can be difficult to get mental health support, however once accessed it can be very helpful.
Enter & View mother & baby unit
This was an announced enter and view visit to the inpatient mother and baby unit based at The Mount in Leeds. The visit was part of a wider Healthwatch England project looking at maternity and mental health.
Highlights
There were good levels of satisfaction with the care provided
Involvement in care could be better
There was praise for the service and staff
Maternity Mental Health Services Leeds
This report is based on the views of 73 Leeds parents with experience of mental ill health before, during and/or after pregnancy. It focuses on where people got support with their perinatal mental health problems, if they didn’t get support what were the reasons and what was positive and what could have been better about the support they received.
We gathered views both online and face to face using a national survey devised by Healthwatch England. Below are some of the things we found out. You can read the full report by clicking on the picture on the left.
Highlights
Over half (51%) the people who completed the survey reported a difficult experience of seeking mental health support, compared to 27% who found it easy.
There was evidence that people without a diagnosis, and those who had experienced potentially difficult events relating to pregnancy
The way conversations about mental health are framed by health professionals can also have a significant effect on parents’ overall care experience.