More Funds Urged For Struggling New Mums

A letter has been sent to the Chancellor urging him to allocate funds in the Budget to support women struggling to cope before and after the birth of a baby.

More than one in 10 women suffer from ante or post-natal depression.

But research by the parenting charity NCT has found that only 26% of NHS trusts offer them any specialist mental health support.

Now 29 organisations have signed the NCT's letter to George Osborne on the weekend of Mother's Day calling for that to change.

The organisations include The Royal College of Midwives, the Mental Health Foundation and Netmums.

On Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced new mothers would be among the beneficiaries of an extra £250m-a-year to be allocated to mental health services , to be confirmed in the Budget.

New mothers have been struggling with a "second-class mental health service", Mr Clegg said.

Marianne Ryan, from Peterborough, struggled after daughter Jessica was born with a genetic condition that affected her breathing and feeding.

She was given anti-depressants but had to wait 10 months for counselling.

And it was no better when she became pregnant with Edward, now five months old.

"I felt let down," she said.

"Nobody asked me how I was feeling during the pregnancy and when I asked about counselling they said it was not available.

"I could apply for it, but it would take a long time so there wasn't much point. It took quite a lot for me to admit it first time around.

"I felt quite ashamed so I was quite brave doing it again - but there was no help and you feel ashamed again and go home and get on with it."

Writing before Mr Clegg's announcement, the organisations behind the letter urged: "More than one in 10 mothers in the UK experiences some form of ante-natal or post-natal depression.

"Yet despite the prevalence of this condition and the current political focus on parity of esteem between mental and physical health, there are still huge gaps in the services available.

"A commitment in the Budget to dedicated funds for treating perinatal mental health problems would help to reduce financial burden by ensuring the health service is better equipped."

Of the quarter of trusts which do provide some kind of support, half have just one member of staff to do the work.

Marianne is delighted that action is being taken.

"I think the letter is brilliant," she said. But she added: "I think it's a shame that it has to be done because it's pretty obvious that's what women need."

A Government spokesperson added: "It is vital that pregnant women and new mothers with mental health problems get the specialist care they need.

"This is why we have employed more than 2,300 more midwives and an extra 3,100 health visitors since 2010 to provide personalised care and support to women during pregnancy and the perinatal period.

"We are also ensuring that every birthing unit has trained specialist mental health staff available to support pregnant women and new mums by 2017."