Specialist assessment – Hampshire Mother and Baby Mental Health Service (Perinatal) – NCCMH

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The Hampshire Mother and Baby Mental Health Service (Perinatal) is a specialist service in Hampshire and Southampton for women experiencing, or at risk of developing, a severe mental health problem. The service offers a daily triage of referrals, with a rapid call option where the referral sounds high risk.

Co-Production

  • From start: No
  • During process: Yes
  • In evaluation: No

Evaluation

  • Peer: Yes
  • Academic: Yes
  • PP Collaborative: Yes

Find out more

Specialist assessment – Hampshire Mother and Baby Mental Health Service (Perinatal)

The Hampshire Mother and Baby Mental Health Service (Perinatal) is a specialist service in Hampshire and Southampton for women experiencing, or at risk of developing, a severe mental health problem. The service offers a daily triage of referrals, with a rapid call option where the referral sounds high risk.

The service demonstrates positive practice in their delivery of care, in line with the Antenatal and Postnatal Mental Health NICE quality standard and Perinatal Mental Health Care Pathways. This includes:

  • meeting the recommended response time for Pathway 2 with at least 50% of women having completed a biopsychosocial assessment, with an agreed care plan in place and have been allocated to a named professional within 2 weeks of referral and 95% of women within 6 weeks.
  • Offering specialist support to women with a mental health problem in pregnancy or postnatal period in line with NICE quality statement 7.

Interventions

The team provides services that include:

  • preconception counselling
  • a telephone advice service for healthcare professionals
  • telephone advice for referred women who do not meet the criteria for face-to-face work but who can benefit from specialist advice – most calls are about medication in pregnancy or while breastfeeding
  • face-to-face assessment and a full, tailored care package, which could include:
    • work with a nursery nurse on bonding and attachment
    • sessions with the psychologist, perinatal mental health nurse or medic
    • group work
  • carers’ assessment
  • in the third trimester, a birth plan is always developed for high-risk women to minimise risk of relapse in the postnatal period.

Referrals

Referrals are accepted from all generic and mental health care professionals and social workers, including self-referrals. Following a face-to-face assessment, each woman receives a full, tailored care package.

 

Monitoring and measurement of outcomes

The service measures outcomes through national perinatal Patient rated Outcome and Experience Measure (POEM) forms, to improve the service.

Workforce and staff training

Workforce

(WTE hours and roles)

 The Hampshire Mother and Baby Mental Health Service (Perinatal) team consists of:

·  a perinatal consultant psychiatrist (1 x 1.8 WTE)

·  a perinatal consultant psychologist (1 x 0.5 WTE)

·  a perinatal community team leader (1 x 2.0 WTE)

·  perinatal community mental health nurses AfC band 6 (5 x 9.0 WTE)

·  a perinatal community mental health nurse AfC band 5 (1 x 1.0 WTE)

·  a perinatal social worker (1 x 0.8 WTE)

·  perinatal nursery nurses (2 x 3.8 WTE).
Note: AfC = Agenda for Change; POEM = Patient rated Outcome and Experience Measure; WTE = whole time equivalent.

 

Specialist training is offered to midwives, health visitors, adult mental health workers, GPs, children’s services, obstetricians and a range of third sector organisations.

Contact details

Provider: Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

Commissioner: West Hampshire CCG

 

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