Southern Health share this latest news. Ed
12 months ago, Southern Health was awarded more than £800,000 funding a year to extend its specialist perinatal community mental health service to three new areas: Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight and North East Hampshire & Farnham.
Fast forward a year and the new service has already helped 77 mums and their families on the Isle of Wight, with 299 appointments undertaken. 
Across all three new areas, almost 300 families have received support from the award-winning team, with a total of 1,023 appointments undertaken.
Islander Alexandra is one such mum who has been supported by the new service. She commented:
“This service has helped me cope and feel empowered and has taught me so much about myself. In my pregnancy I chose not to take medication, and without the perinatal service in place this would have been near on impossible.”
Crucial support
Southern Health’s perinatal community mental health nurse Claire Walsh added:
“Twenty per cent of women suffer from some sort of mental illness either during the course of pregnancy or soon after giving birth. It can be a very bewildering and scary experience for new mums and this is why the service, which we were able to expand with the support of our local commissioners, is so crucial for families.”
The NHS Trust’s perinatal mental health team helps mothers experiencing severe mental illness, through a programme of treatment and support in the community and in its specialist inpatient unit in Winchester – where mums and their babies can stay until they are well enough to be at home. Community-based care includes advice and support over the telephone; outpatient consultations in clinics, GP surgeries or at home; support and guidance for an individual’s family; medication; and a range of therapy sessions.
‘Double accredited’
The community perinatal team is the first in the country to receive independent accreditation from the Royal College of Psychiatry.
It means that the perinatal service is ‘double accredited’, as its inpatient unit in Winchester had already received its own accreditation. This was after the service was named national ‘Psychiatric Team of the Year’ at the Royal College of Psychiatrists Awards in 2014.
