New mothers should receive a mental health checkup six weeks after giving birth to help tackle possible postnatal depression and other problems related to having a baby, ministers have been told.
A cross-party group of 60 MPs and peers have written to Steve Brine, the minister for public health and primary care, demanding that all mothers in England have an assessment of their emotional and mental health carried out by a GP, practice nurse or health visitor.
They say that making such checkups mandatory would reduce the damage experienced by women, children and families caused by mothers suffering psychological problems associated with pregnancy and birth, which often go undetected.
About half of mothers in the UK develop a mental health problem of some sort during that time, such as postnatal depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and postpartum psychosis, according to the parenting charity NCT.
Comments (0)