Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Fianna Fáil motion tonight but I also want to call for support for the Sinn Féin amendment because, in fairness, it is positive and constructive.

One issue which can be overlooked when talking about maternal health is mental health. For too long, the mental health of pregnant women and new mothers was treated with little concern. While we recognise the problems, which about 11,000 Irish women experience every year, we have done little to provide supports and solutions for them. The biological, psychological and social impacts that pregnancy and childbirth can have on women should be every bit as much of a concern for our health services as the physical and medical responses provided already. Women, during and after pregnancy, need diagnostic and treatment services which ensure their mental well-being. Depression and anxiety, in particular, occur during and after pregnancy and this cannot be dismissed.

In the Six Counties, a regional perinatal mental healthcare pathway has been in place since 2012. The HSE has published a plan for specialist perinatal mental health services in 2017 but more needs to be done to address this. In research, women describe feeling isolated and without support. The restructuring of reproductive healthcare as a woman centred model is crucial to ensuring that depression related to pregnancy and childbirth is treated seriously. Screening and care should be provided to women during and after pregnancy to the standards of international best practice.

We need to see the development of perinatal and postnatal mental health services, which provide perinatal screening for depressive and psychotic symptoms at the first, second and fourth month, with a minimum of one screening per trimester. We need perinatal mental health units working together, located North and South and a postnatal screening model through GPs and paediatricians with screenings taking place bi-monthly, or alternatively, in conjunction with the immunisation schedule. We also need to develop educational and supportive materials for the woman and her partner, if applicable, to better identify issues early on, and to prevent issues arising through self-care. Free counselling sessions should be provided to women after pregnancy and we should ensure all women receive home visits from an appropriate professional within the first three months after pregnancy. We need a policy that places the health of the woman as the primary consideration at all times in choosing any treatment.

I ask Members again to support the positive Sinn Féin amendment and to vote for this worthwhile motion.

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