After the recent report that was published in Parliament on Tuesday, I was honoured to be there to witness all parties coming together and support the work of the MMHA. It was reported that the UK will lose £8.1 billion per year as the illness not only effects the new mum, but the children and other areas in later life if unsupported. This report also shows that it will take £337 million for the NHS services to come up to scratch to save that money per year. I also would like to say that money should be there for the third sector/voluntary as they do the groundwork and are often spending time doing bucket collection and less time on the families.
I estimate on the average amount of births per year in Wales (36,000 live births) that it would cost Wales a staggering £360 Million per year and only £15 million for NHS Services per year based on the UK figures to have the right support. The voluntary/sector would also need funding to make sure that the families are supported while going through the NHS. I myself would like to met up with the Welsh Government and after hearing that Wales have 70 per cent lack of services in Perinatal Mental Health also hope that the mother and baby unit in Wales will open once again.
The stigma of mental health is very much there and not much education is out there in the places it should be like last year of schools. Perinatal Mental Health has a bigger stigma and lack of education, in which some of our society feels that having a new born baby should be the happiest time in a families life. Education and Research shows that anything can start postnatal depression from PTSD at the birth and traumatic time, to having depression before and the illness coming back to haunt the new mother. We also need more support in the antenatal period which is very much not heard of much at all and this comes under the perinatal mental health umbrella.
When you think a country like Wales has no mother and baby unit at all, its pretty shocking reading to hear that a mother could be put in a unit with people with all types of mental health illness and without the perinatal mental health care she needs. Also the biggest factor the bounding with the new born baby, which as we all know can last a lifetime if she hasn't bonded and that is what will happen if a mother and baby unit is not there for the families. Also what about the new dad who would have to travel as far as Birmingham with the young baby and other children just to see them, that in itself has to take a toll on the new dad.
This is not rocket science at all and as we now know that the services are not in place and let move on and make this happen not only for this generation, but for the generations to come. It is our time to make sure the no mother goes without the Perinatal mental health services as she will find it harder to come forward and speak out as she may feel what's the point. Families are already suffering in silence due to the stigma, let make it easier for them to come forward and seek the help now.
The quicker the help, the quicker the recovery