DEVON Partnership NHS Trust has been successful with its bid to secure a new specialist mother and baby unit (MBU) for the South West.

The new unit, in Exeter, is one of four MBUs commissioned by NHS England to address a shortfall of beds nationally and will provide women from across Devon, Somerset and Cornwall with a much-needed specialist inpatient service, reducing the need to travel such large distances for care and treatment in the future.

Over the past few years the Trust has built up an excellent perinatal service across Devon for pregnant women and new mothers with serious mental health needs. However, there has been no specialist Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) west of Bristol, where inpatient care can be provided for mothers and their babies, together.

Campaigning for a unit to be located in Devon has been ongoing for some time now and the Trust’s formal bid to NHS England began early in 2017.

The bidding team included the involvement of women, families, the NHS and other organisations from across Devon, Somerset and Cornwall to ensure the needs of families from those areas were taken into account at every stage.

Exeter has been selected as the location for this vital new facility to deliver the service, based on the strength of the Trust’s existing perinatal community service and the collaborative and inclusive nature of its bid for the South West.

Commenting on the news, Dr Jo Black, Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Lead for Perinatal Services said: “It is difficult to overstate the difference that this new unit will make to the lives of new mums from across the South West region - and their families.

“At the moment, women who have serious mental health needs following the birth of their baby have to do one of two things. They can either be supported, outside the county where they live, in a specialist MBU - often hundreds of miles away - or they can be admitted to a general adult psychiatric ward, but have to be separated from their new born child.

“A new MBU in Exeter means that we can provide the support and treatment that mums need, in a good, accessible central location, and that they can continue to be with their babies.”

The aim is for the service to be developed in a phased way with four beds becoming operational by March 2018 and a new purpose built unit, providing eight beds, being built in Exeter in 2019.