Released on: 03 March 2015
In response to the National Maternity Survey from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU), Elizabeth Duff, Senior Policy Adviser, NCT, said:
“It’s appalling that of those women who self-identified with postnatal depression, over a third hadn’t received support and over a half hadn’t received treatment to date. This backs up recent NCT research which highlighted huge gaps in maternal mental health services.
“Another shocking aspect of this research is the poorer care that black and ethnic minority women are experiencing and the fact that midwives were not always respectful to them is concerning.
“The support health professionals provide for infant feeding remains inadequate despite evidence showing mothers need more help. Disappointingly, there hasn’t been any real improvement since the last NPEU survey.”
