Post natal depression has been frequenting news articles for the last number of weeks with celebrities including Jennifer Lopez, Una Healy from the Saturday’s reporting suffering in the weeks and months after having their children. Additionally, reports of the Boots family’s ordeal, a middle class woman, who had a successful business and the seemingly ‘perfect life’ was suffering from Post natal depression and is currently being questioned in the aftermath of her two young children being smothered to death last week.
Family Action, a charity in London, have reported the launch its ‘Against All Odds: Mind The Gap’ campaign which is calling for improvements in the welfare support and early intervention services that low income mothers who could be at risk of suffering from depression receive.
Evidently, from the array of media reports, post natal depression is not a condition confined to particular socio-economic group or women with a certain lifestyle.
Today the government have released plans to ensure that women have access to a ‘named midwife’ during labour, birth and are cared for by midwives who have improved training to identify the early signs and symptoms of depression.
According to the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), more than 5,000 midwives are going to be needed to deliver the care that is being proposed by the government. With the chief executive Cathy Warwick, pledging her support and reportedly commenting on the changes as ‘very good news’.
