Question reference: S6W-18040
- Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 17 May 2023
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 June 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings in the Maternal Mental Health Alliance report, Specialist perinatal mental health care in the UK 2023, that (a) six NHS boards predicted that there would be an underspend in their perinatal mental health budgets for 2022-23 due to recruitment issues and (b) 92% of NHS boards in Scotland reported underspends in their perinatal mental health budgets between 2020 and 2022.
Answer
We welcome the focus on perinatal support in the report from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. Development of perinatal mental health services is a key priority for the Scottish Government to improve the wellbeing and experiences of women, infants and families.
Since 2019, our investment of over £26 million has delivered a substantial increase in statutory and third sector services across Scotland leading to:
o 11 new and 3 expanded Community Perinatal Mental Health Teams
o 10 new and 4 in development Infant Mental Health Services
o 9 new and 1 expanded Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Intervention Services
During this period of significant expansion, some NHS Boards have understandably experienced a number of challenges including around recruitment. The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service Development Adviser is regularly in contact with identified NHS leads to help identify and tackle such issues; and we continue to work closely with the Network to look at additional ways to put support in place.
The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to work with NHS boards to support them in managing their allocations and the successful implementation of perinatal and infant mental health services.