Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service
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The North London Foundation Trust (NLFT) Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service (SPMHS), is a community based mental health service providing specialist assessment and treatment for women, birthing people, their partners and babies with mental health difficulties and who:
- are planning a pregnancy and need advice
- are currently pregnant
- have a baby under 24 months old
Women and birthing people seen by our service must live in the five North Central London (NCL) Boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington.
The service consists of core members of the multidisciplinary team including Psychiatrists, Clinical/Counselling Psychologists, Family Therapist, Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Nursery Nurses, Administrators and Peer Support Workers.
Women and birthing people experiencing milder forms of perinatal mental health problems should consult their midwives, health visitor and GP for other support available in the NHS such as NHS Talking Therapies.We are now accepting self-referrals. Please complete our referral form here.
- Borough(s): Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington
- Email: nlft.NCL.perinatal@nhs.net
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Address:
St Pancras Hospital, NW1 0PE
- How to access this service
- Who is this service for?
- What to expect
- Service manager(s)
- Useful Information
How to access this service
The following clinicians can refer to this service: GPs, health and social care professionals, community psychiatrists, obstetricians, midwives, health visitors and social workers.
In order for your referral to be triaged without delay, please complete the referral form with as much information as possible.
Completed referrals should be sent via email to: nlft.NCL.perinatal@nhs.netWe also accept self-referrals. Please complete our referral form here.Professional’s Advice line
If you need advice, guidance, or have a query regarding a patient or referral, you can speak to a duty clinician on Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's between 11:00am - 12pm by calling the relevant number above, depending on which borough the patient lives in.
The service is split into 3 sub-teams based on the borough where the woman or birthing person lives and continues to be NCL ICS aligned covering the boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey & Islington.
South Team (Camden and Islington): St Pancras Hospital | NW1 0PE
Team number: 020 3317 7114
East Team (Enfield & Haringey): Forest Road Primary Care Centre | 308A Hertford Road| N9 7HD
Team number: 020 3317 7198
West Team (Barnet): Cedar Place | 890 High Road | N12 9RH
Team Number: 020 3317 7001
(*Exception to this will be if the women or birthing people reside 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)
Please note this is not an emergency service. If you are in a crisis and you need urgent help, please contact your GP or the out of hours urgent advice and crisis support Barnet, Enfield and Haringey - 0800 151 0023 | Camden and Islington 0800 917 3333.Who is this service for?
Inclusions
The NLFT Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service (SPMHS) accept referrals for women, birthing people and their partners who are planning a pregnancy, are pregnant or who gave birth within the last 13 months and;
- Been diagnosed at any time with a severe mental illness,(I.e., 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 parent or estrangement from the infant or
- Would benefit from advice on/review of psychiatric medication during pregnancy/breastfeeding/chestfeeding (This includes provision for preconception advice and relapse prevention work)
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 referred person’s needs are acute and urgent referral to local crisis services should be considered).
What to expect
We see women, birthing people and their families in one of our clinic locations and in various other locations such as antenatal clinics where they are receiving their obstetric care (if within the five boroughs mentioned above), children centres and home visits.
Our goal is to see new referrals within four weeks of receiving the referral. If the referral is deemed urgent, we aim to see the referred person within two weeks.
The team offers one off assessments, psycho-education and advice, assessment and information about other services. Those with severe mental health difficulties such as Bipolar Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia may have longer term interventions under our service.
Assessment, advice and treatment may be in collaboration with the person’s usual psychiatric team where she has one, and alongside the midwifery and obstetric teams.
The service will agree a personalised care plan that embraces what is important to the women/birthing people during their pregnancy. We aim to promote wellbeing in the women/birthing people and their family and prevent relapse in pregnancy and the early postpartum period.
Comprehensive medication advice is available for those with mental illness on psychiatric medications who are planning a pregnancy, are pregnant or breast feeding/chestfeeding.
We will support mothers, birthing people and their partners in developing a healthy relationship with their infants, thus reducing the impact of maternal and parental mental illness on child development. We also encourage the involvement of fathers or non-birthing partners in the process.
To improve the health and wellbeing of women and birthing people who have or are at risk of mental health problems and improve outcomes for women, birthing people, their infants, partners and their families. We follow the NICE guidelines on Antenatal and Postnatal Mental Health.
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.Service manager(s)
Service manager: Candice Klotnick
Head of service: Rebecca Hardman
