The North London Partners (NLP) Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service (SPMHS), provides specialist care for women with mental health problems who:

• planning a pregnancy and need advice
• currently pregnant
• have had a baby in the past 13 months (with follow-up for up to 24 months)

The service is split into 3 sub-teams based on the borough where the women lives and continues to be STP aligned covering the North Central London region of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey & Islington. 

Teams are divided as follows;

1. West Team (Barnet): Unit C, 890 High Road, North Finchley, N12 0DZ
2. East Team (Enfield & Haringey):  Forest Road Health Centre, 303a Hertford Road N9 7HD
3. South Team (Camden & Islington): Bloomsbury Building, St Pancras Hospital, NW1 0PE

 (*Exception to this will be if the women lives in a borough outside NCL but has GP in NCL and their local perinatal mental health team defines eligibility by borough of GP rather than address of service user).

Each team will consist of core members of the multidisciplinary team including Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Nursery Nurses, Administrators and Peer Support Workers. We see women in outpatient clinics in various locations including antenatal clinics where women are receiving their obstetric care, team bases, children centres, as well as carrying out home visits.

Service Aims

• to improve the health and wellbeing of women who have, or are at risk of mental health problems and improve outcomes for women, their infants, partners and their families. We follow the NICE guidelines on Antenatal and Postnatal Mental Health
• to detect, prevent and treat perinatal mental illness and allow women time to consider the treatment and support options available in order to receive safe and effective care
• we will work collaboratively with families/carers, and various other statutory and voluntary services I.e. maternity services, obstetricians, health visitors other secondary mental health services and GP’s to ensure good partnership working to support women’s physical and mental health needs.
• we are active with teaching and training other health professionals so that they can have a good working knowledge of how mental health problems affect women in pregnancy and after birth

See Downloads for useful documents.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusions

The North London Partners (NLP) Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service (SPMHS) accept referrals for women who are planning a pregnancy, pregnant or who gave birth within the last 13 months and;

• been diagnosed at any time with a severe mental illness, (ie. bipolar affective disorder/schizophrenia/ schizoaffective disorder/postpartum psychosis/severe depression), or
• are currently open to a secondary mental health service, or 
• are experiencing new thoughts or acts of self-harm, or  
• have experienced a recent significant change in mental state, or
• have a mental illness/psychological disturbance that can’t be managed by primary care services, or
• have expressions of incompetency as a mother or estrangement from the infant, or
• would benefit from advice on/review of psychiatric medication during pregnancy/breastfeeding (this includes provision for preconception advice and relapse prevention work)

Exclusions

• substance-misuse problems in the absence of mental health problems
• women experiencing milder forms of perinatal mental health problems

In making your referral please consider functional impairment, level of social support, substance use, safeguarding issues and if there is a need for an immediate response. (If the woman’s needs are acute and urgent referral to local crisis services should be considered).

The team aims to see new referrals within six weeks of receiving the referral or, if urgent, then within two weeks.

How to refer

The following clinicians can refer to this service: GPs, health and social care professionals, community psychiatrists, obstetricians, midwives, health visitors and social workers