To ask the Minister of Health, further to his oral statement on Maternity and Neonatal Services on 22 October 2024, to provide further detail relating to post-natal support, including post-natal mental health.

Initiatives such as the Continuity of Midwifery Carer launched in May 2023 have shown that women who receive continuous care from a midwife have lower intervention rates and better birth experiences. To ensure the full-scale implementation of Continuity of Midwifery Carer, a four phased outcomes-based accountability approach has been created, after initial roll out it is clear that additional funding and resource will be required to ensure this model of care is widely available.

All Trusts in Northern Ireland offer a midwifery service to women who chose to birth at home. Teams based in the community will support a woman through her pregnancy, providing antenatal care and then going on call when a woman reaches 37 weeks gestation to care for her when she is in labour and birthing. These teams follow care through into the postnatal period.

In 2021, my predecessor, Minister Swann approved funding to establish a new perinatal mental health service for the region. The first phase in developing this new service was to implement community perinatal mental health teams in all Trusts throughout the region, which would provide specialist services for mothers experiencing mental health issues during the perinatal period. Phase one has now been implemented – each Trust now has a fully operational community perinatal mental health service.

The second phase was to consider a Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) for the region. In early 2023 my Department commissioned an independent review to make recommendations and provide advice on a suitable model and location for a Mother and Baby Unit, which would best meet the needs of the population. The Department received the final report from the review team in mid-September 2023. It provided recommendations on the preferred service model for the unit, and the location of the Mother and Baby Unit, with the Belfast City Hospital site identified as the most suitable location. At that point, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust was invited to prepare a business case for the provision of the proposed regional unit.

The business case for Mother and Baby Unit is well-progressed and it is planned that it will be finalised and submitted to my Department for scrutiny by the end of the year. It should be noted that progression of this project will remain subject to the necessary funding for the unit being identified.