What consideration it has given to extending the NHS perinatal treatment period to two years.

Over the last 4 years we have seen a big expansion in specialist perinatal mental health services in Scotland so that all 14 Health Boards now have specialist perinatal mental health services to support women and babies. We have also developed enhanced Mother & Baby Unit provision and established new infant mental health and Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Interventions services across Scotland.
Currently provision within inpatient and community perinatal mental health services spans pregnancy and the first postnatal year. There may be some circumstances where patients may be seen beyond the 12 month period. This decision rests with the local perinatal mental health team and should be based on what a patient needs and what the service can realistically provide given current caseload, waits, and capacity.
It is important to identify the service which is most helpful for the patient, which may sometimes be a Community Perinatal Mental Health Team but could also be an infant mental health service, Maternity and Neonatal Psychological Interventions (MNPI) or adult mental health services. We are committed to taking an integrated approach to service provision, so that there are no barriers to ensuring that women and infants get the most appropriate service for their needs and can easily transition between services as that need changes.