Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:07 pm on 11 May 2022.
Last week was Perinatal Mental Health Awareness Week. Untreated perinatal mental health problems can have a devastating impact on women, their families and children, and remains the leading cause of maternal death in the first postnatal year. One in five mums and one in 10 dads are affected by perinatal mental health problems, and this has unfortunately increased as a result of COVID. During the perinatal period, health visitors are the ones uniquely placed to identify women experiencing maternal mental health problems and infants not reaching their developmental milestones. They also ensure that women and their families receive the care they need at the earliest opportunity. Given this, what progress has the Welsh Government made in reaching a position where we have a specialist health visitor in perinatal and infant mental health in each health board area, and what progress has been made in appointing maternity and neonatal champions across Wales?