Campaigners are calling for the urgent establishment of a dedicated mother and baby unit to support women who suffer from severe mental health issues during or after pregnancy.
Perinatal mental health difficulties affect one in five women, according to the National Women’s Council (NWC), which advocates for the rights and equality of women in Ireland.
Some of these women may need in-patient care, but there is currently no facility in the country where they can stay with their babies while receiving treatment. Instead, they have to be separated from their infants and admitted to general acute mental health units.
The NWC says this situation is unacceptable and that a special unit where women can remain with their babies while getting the care they need is essential.
Plans are under way to create Ireland’s first mother and baby unit on the campus of St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, but the NWC says this is the only part of the national perinatal mental health model of care that has not been implemented yet.
Kate Mitchell, the NWC’s head of policy and development, said the unit should be part of a comprehensive and integrated approach to perinatal mental health services and supports across different levels of care.
She said: “It is vital that this service is established as soon as possible, but it also has to be accompanied by a wide variety of perinatal mental health services and supports in primary, community and acute and specialist settings.”
She added: “We need to see ongoing investment in support groups, peer support, counselling, psychotherapy and other community-based services that can help women and their families cope with the challenges of perinatal mental health difficulties.”
She also stressed the importance of raising awareness and reducing stigma around perinatal mental health issues, as well as ensuring that women have access to information and resources that can help them.
She said: “We want to see a culture change where women feel comfortable and confident to seek help and support when they need it, and where they are treated with respect and dignity by the health professionals and services that they encounter.”
