Building capacity in perinatal mental health services

We were commissioned by NHS England and Health Education England to deliver the Building Capacity, Psychiatry Leadership in Perinatal Mental Health Services project.

This one-year programme trained 10 consultant psychiatrists to become perinatal specialists, through a bursary scheme in collaboration with mental health trusts.

The project delivered a host-mentor programme and a masterclass seminar series, to develop the clinical, leadership and teaching skills needed to establish and lead perinatal mental health services. Throughout the programme, bursary holders were assessed against the competency framework.

A final review was done to assess and provide evidence for a credential. This was in support of a wider national scoping project to evidence the process of formal accreditation of attainment of competences. Please email perinataltraining2023@rcpsych.ac.uk.

To maximise impact and broaden the projects reach, an additional 15 consultants, engaged in delivering perinatal services, were accommodated on the masterclass programme. And four three-day conferences were developed and delivered to a broader cohort of consultants and senior trainees on developing clinical skills and services.

Impact and reach of the project has been measured and mapped, with approximately 280 psychiatrists trained, in some capacity, over the course of the project.

A perinatal psychiatry competency framework for specialist training in perinatal psychiatry: comprising of competency descriptors outlining the skills, knowledge and performance, with assessment indicators, to assess, manage and treat women during the perinatal period.

A pilot credential in perinatal psychiatry: Commissioned by HEE, the project was running two pilot programmes for consultants and senior trainees.

These pilots collected evidence of competency (aligned with the competency framework) from all participants through a variety of mechanisms and was formally assessed by an expert panel, before final reporting to HEE.

They ran concurrent to the additional 2018/19 masterclass seminar series, which in turn supported the academic training component of the pilot programmes.

This piece of joined-up work adds further value for our funding partners and our member community by: supporting the Perinatal Mental Health Community Services Development Fund, specifically Wave 2 sites; supporting HEE’s national strategy to evidence and implement a flexible, sustainable and quality training route for a specialist workforce; and, is an important component of the national transformation programme to promote service development and quality improvement.

Both programmes ended July 2019; a formal report was submitted to HEE, October 2019.

An eLearning module, ‘The perinatal frame of frame of mind’ was developed and was available in Spring 2019.

As a learning tool for psychiatrists and other specialists engaged in delivering perinatal mental health services, this was e free at the point of access via the College's and other healthcare eLearning websites.

The project has released a set of perinatal mental health leaflets written jointly by perinatal psychiatrists, women with lived experience of perinatal mental illness, and their partners.

These eight titles are evidence-based and provide expert advice in simple, easy to read language.

They cover the complexity of issues impacting women in the perinatal period from explaining what perinatal services are in a community setting and what is a mother and baby unit, and when and why a woman might to referred to it.

• What are perinatal mental health services?
• Mother and baby units (MBUs)
• Postpartum psychosis for carers
• Perinatal OCD for carers
• Children’s social services and safeguarding 
• Lithium in pregnancy and breastfeeding
• Valproate in women and girls who could get pregnant
• Antipsychotics in pregnancy and breastfeeding

Health Education England has agreed to fund the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver a masterclass programme for new consultants in Perinatal Psychiatry. Consultants already working in Perinatal Psychiatry/PMH teams are also invited to attend. 

This application process is now closed. 

If you have any questions please contact perinataltraining2023@rcpsych.ac.uk 

Health Education England are funding the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver a masterclass programme for senior trainees in Perinatal Psychiatry. This is to support Perinatal Mental Health Services in England. 

The programme is open for trainees (ST4-7) who are in perinatal training posts or doing special interest sessions in NHSE perinatal mental health teams and who have not been through a previous masterclass programmes.

This application process is now closed.  For any questions about the programme please contact perinataltraining2023@rcpsych.ac.uk

Session topics across both programmes include:

• service development, clinical networks, PQN and workforce planning
• prescribing in pregnancy and breastfeeding
• mental health and capacity law
• comorbidities
• parent-infant mental health and therapy
• the importance of the early years and parent interaction
• safeguarding ‘managing complexity’
• the challenges of working across agencies and disciplines
• personality disorder and its implications for maternal mental health and parenting
• lived experiences
• psychological therapies
• forensic aspects of perinatal psychiatry.