Campaign news: Northern Ireland Mother and Baby Unit confirmed
It’s been announced that a Northern Ireland mental health Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) will open within 3 years, saving women’s lives and preventing life-long trauma caused by separating mums and babies.
‘We are over the moon that Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has announced the MBU at Belfast City Hospital will be built and open by 2028/29,’ Liz Morrison, Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP)’s Northern Ireland advisor said.
‘APP has been campaigning for a Northern Ireland MBU since our inception in 2011, together with the mums and families affected by postpartum psychosis who we support. We’ve waited far too long.
‘By the time this unit opens, it will be 20 years since the Stormont Health Committee – then led by Michelle O’Neill – acknowledged the urgent need for an MBU here. In that time about 2,000 mums would have needed an MBU, including about 700 with postpartum psychosis.
‘These women will have been separated from their babies for non-specialist treatment, causing lifelong trauma. Suicide is the leading cause of maternal death in Northern Ireland, but we don’t know exactly how many mums who needed an MBU have died, because no one is counting.
‘Postpartum psychosis isn’t rare – it affects about 35 women in Northern Ireland every year. It’s a frightening, but very treatable, mental health condition that can escalate very rapidly following childbirth and NICE guidelines say a mum should be admitted to an MBU within 24 hours. With the right treatment and support, women fully recover.’
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK without an MBU, a specialist inpatient mental health treatment centre where mothers can be admitted with their babies for care and treatment. Instead, mums are admitted to acute psychiatric wards for non-specialist treatment, separating them from their babies.
APP estimates that around 100 women a year will require hospital admission for severe mental illness in the year after birth, including about 35 with postpartum psychosis, a severe but treatable form of mental illness. It begins suddenly in the days and weeks after having a baby. Symptoms include hallucinations and delusions, often with mania, depression or confusion. It can get worse very quickly and should always be treated as a medical emergency.
NI café group and support
Anyone affected by postpartum psychosis, now or even many years ago, can join APP’s lived-experience community, including an NI Peer Support Group for mothers who have experienced it at any time. We also have support for partners, grandparents and for bereaved families. Email app@app-network.org for more information.