Type
Perinatal mental healthTelephone advice – 01604 657735
The Perinatal Service runs Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm.
A duty worker is available to provide routine and urgent perinatal telephone advice during these hours. Your details will be taken and a member of the team will contact you within 1 working day.
Routine Referrals
Referrals can be made by any health professional working with a woman. This includes Midwives, Health Visitors, GP’s, Hospital based teams and Mental Health Services. Routine referrals can be made online via the referral form. A member of the team will review the referral and will respond within 10 working days. If you have not received a response from the team after this time, please call 01604 657735.Urgent and Emergency Referrals
A clinical member of staff is available to discuss urgent and emergency referrals during working hours. Where the team are unable to carry out an emergency assessment, arrangements will be made for another service to facilitate this. Out of hours these referrals should be made to either:
• Urgent Care and Assessment Team (UCAT) - for women in the community
• Acute Liaison Mental Health Service (ALMHS) - for women presenting at A&E or maternity wards
These teams can be contacted via Berrywood Hospital switchboard on: 01604 682682
Contact Details
- Telephone: 01604 657735
Our service
The team see women in antenatal clinics, children centres and their homes according to women’s need or wishes. The team work closely with other professionals involved to ensure women and their families receive the most appropriate care and interventions. This may include:
- Pre-conception counselling
- Joint obstetric clinics
- Prescribing advice
- Pre-birth planning
- Assessment and signposting on to appropriate intervention and services
- Psychological Interventions
- Perinatal outpatient clinics
- Telephone advice to professionals
- Parent infant interventions
- Education and training
The team consists of:
- Service Manager
- Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist
- Perinatal Mental Health Nurses
- Community Nursery Nurses
- Occupational Therapist
- Psychologist
- Specialist Doctor
- Team administrators
About you
This service is for women across Northamptonshire with complex mental health conditions who are planning pregnancy, currently pregnant or have a child under 1 year. (Initial referrals must be made within the first 9 months postpartum)
- Following discharge from Psychiatric Mother and Baby Units.
- New episodes of severe mental illness during pregnancy and the first postnatal year (where this is safe and appropriate), including:
− Postpartum psychosis, bipolar affective disorder, serious affective disorder and/or other psychoses.
− Severe depressive illness
− Severe anxiety-based disorders e.g. OCD and panic disorder
- Women with pre-existing serious mental illness in pregnancy already open to adult mental health services will usually remain under the care of adult mental health services. The Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service will either; advise on management and treatment, take over the care of the woman temporarily or co-work with the psychiatric team, according to individual need and choice.
- The service only works with women with an alcohol or substance issue if there is also a severe mental illness.
- Women under 18 years old can be referred if a perinatal mental health condition is the primary presentation. In this instance the perinatal service will work jointly with the local CAMHS service.
Useful links
Perinatal Positivity uses the real voices and experiences of women and men who have had mental wellbeing difficulties around the time of pregnancy, childbirth and beyond.
Links for professionals
Perinatal Mental Health: E-learning for Health Care Modules
Babies in Mind: Why the Parents’ Mind Matters
Healthy Child Programme (Modules 5 and 6 on attachment, parenting, development and behaviour)
Identifying women at high risk of severe mental illness: A learning programme for midwives
