Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2016 to Question 23676, when the work being undertaken by Health Education England and NHS England to which he refers will be completed.
Alistair Burt
The additional significant investment in perinatal mental health totaling £350 million from 2016/17- 2020/21, together with the recommendations of the forthcoming report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce, will enable NHS England to design a broader five year transformation programme to build capacity and capability in specialist perinatal mental health services, with the aim of enabling women in all areas of England to access care that is in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines by 2020/21.
Work is underway to lay the foundations for this longer-term work through targeted funding of activities to build capacity in specialist services. This will include, for example, a £1 million investment in strengthening clinical networks across the country. It is also expected to include developing clinical leadership capacity and training for the perinatal workforce to build the skills and capabilities within specialist teams.
NHS England will work with partners, including Health Education England, over the coming months, to develop the five year programme for improving specialist perinatal mental health services.
