Mother and baby mental health unit to go ahead
A permanent mother and baby mental health unit is set to be built at Belfast City Hospital, with plans to open by 2028/29, following decades of campaigning by families and mental health advocates. The unit will allow mothers with severe postpartum mental illness to receive specialist care while staying with their babies, addressing a long-standing gap in Northern Ireland's health services. While welcomed by campaigners, some families express that the announcement comes too late for those who have already suffered due to the lack of such facilities.
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Mother and baby mental health unit to go ahead8 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMarie-Louise ConnollyHealth correspondent, BBC News NIGetty ImagesThe unit should open by 2028/29, the health minister saysA permanent regional mother and baby unit, providing specialist inpatient mental health care, is to go ahead in the grounds of the Belfast City Hospital with a design team to be appointed immediately.Mothers and families have been campaigning for decades for a dedicated unit where women are treated alongside their babies instead of being separated and cared for in a general psychiatric ward.Women who develop postpartum psychosis often experience hallucinations, delusions, restlessness and if left untreated may harm themselves and their babies.The health minister said it…
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