Mother and baby unit a 'significant step forward'

A permanent regional Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) in Northern Ireland 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 represents a "significant step forward" and the aim is for it to open "no later than 2028/29".

Speaking on the appointed site which is currently waste ground, Mike Nesbitt said interim and temporary facilities which had been discussed proved not to be cost effective.

The minister said a scoping exercise confirmed that alternative options including a dedicated hospital ward would not deliver a materially shorter timeline or better value for money, and would not offer the same level of safety and assurance for mothers and babies.

Being built alongside an existing acute mental health inpatient facility in the grounds of the Belfast City Hospital and proximity to obstetric-led maternity services at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, Nesbitt said was essential for safe, high-quality care.

Each year, about 100 women in Northern Ireland are admitted to adult psychiatric wards for care, without their babies.

What is postpartum psychosis?

Seven health ministers have supported the idea of a mother and baby unit in Northern Ireland, but funding has never been found.

While the rest of the UK has 22 units, NI has none forcing mothers with severe postpartum mental health issues to be separated from their babies and treated in units such as Holywell Psychiatric hospital alongside other patients with a range of mental health issues.

Last June, a BBC Spotlight investigation heard hard hitting testimonies from women who'd suffered severe post-partum psychosis and post-natal depression and who'd been cared for without their babies with them.

Last November during a Stormont debate, Nesbitt said a mother and baby unit was not just overdue or long overdue but long, long overdue however he could not at that stage guarantee funding.