Gloucestershire Maternal Depression Strategy 2005-2010 : Executive Summary

Sue Moos
Maternal Mental Health Strategy Lead, Gloucestershire Primary Mental Health Service

The purpose of the countywide strategy is to outline the provision of a service across
Gloucestershire’s Partnership Trust and three Primary Care Trusts and describe how it
can be achieved.

The strategy will lead towards the provision of an equitable and effective, multidisciplinary
service for the prevention, detection and treatment of maternal depression
during pregnancy and up to one year following childbirth. It will ensure that every
woman known to the maternity, health visiting, primary care and mental health services
is assessed and managed appropriately and according to evidence based best practice.
Appropriate and effective management will contribute towards lessening the impact of
maternal depression for women, their babies, other children and partners, both in the
short and long term.

The aims and objectives of the strategy are laid out against a background of current
service provision and drivers for change, for example the National Service Framework
for Mental Health, the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths and the National
Suicide Prevention Strategy. This is followed by recommendations and a priority
focused action plan for implementation based on short and long term goals over the next
5 years.

This strategy will contribute directly to an overarching countywide Strategy for Maternal
Mental Health which is currently being developed by the Gloucestershire Maternal
Mental Health Steering Group. The Strategy for Maternal Mental Health will cover other
maternal mental health conditions, such as puerperal psychosis, phobic anxiety states
and panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance misuse,
manic-depressive/bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. These strategies will compliment
each other and clearly justify the high level of priority now being afforded to perinatal maternal
depression. This document will also demonstrate the need to embed this strategy in local
service level agreements.

The strategy has involved wide consultation and concentrates on building on services
already available in recognition of existing expertise and resources in order to avoid
duplication and make the best possible use of scarce resources.

As Oates reminds us, ‘Pregnancy is the only known trigger for mental illness that comes
with nine month’s warning’1. This strategy offers evidence based recommendations for
these nine months to be used to prevent mortality and reduce morbidity in women who
will experience perinatal depression and who have predictable mental health risks factors.