Mr. Kilian McGrane:

It is not just psychiatrists who will be recruited but also clinical midwife specialists in mental health. I am not suggesting they will be easier to get, but it is a post in which there is a lot of interest. We are not sure of the exact numbers until the service plan is finalised, but the aim is that there will be a minimum of one in each of the 19 units. That is an important part of the development which allows us to provide the first point of access. It also allows us to support midwives who are interacting daily with women, identifying needs and the referral pathway onwards. That is where the psychiatry service comes into it.

On the reporting component, we will be submitting reports regularly to the Department, but there is also a requirement for us to produce an annual report, which requirement is set out in the national maternity strategy. We produced an annual report early in 2017. Obviously, there was no programme office in place in 2016; therefore, the annual report was quite light. However, the 2017 annual report that will be published in the middle of the second quarter of 2018 will detail what we have done to date in 2017. It will include any development in the area of perinatal mental health.