A new service to help pregnant women and new mums who might be suffering from mental health issues has been launched at the Trust.
And we marked World Maternal Mental Health Day on Wednesday (May 2) by holding an awareness event in the hospital’s main reception.
With as many as one in four women affected by a mental health issue, such as depression, bipolar disorder or psychosis, either while pregnant or post-natal, the importance of referrals to the service and the help and it offers is clear. Referrals can come from GPs or women can self-refer.
Kim McAllister, who has just become the Trust’s first specialist midwife for perinatal mental health, took the opportunity on Wednesday to advise visitors to the hospital about the service and its benefits.
She said: “It’s important that we make women realise that it’s normal to talk about mental health. A lot of women wrongly think they might have their children removed from them if they disclose a mental health issue.
“It can lead to problems with baby and then into childhood with school and relationships if they haven’t had the right bonding.”
The service at QEH has been developed in partnership with the Community Perinatal Mental Health Service launched by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust in September 2017.
—ENDS—
Photo caption: Kim McAllister, the first specialist midwife for perinatal mental health at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust
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