Information for referrers
In this section:
Perinatal Community Mental Health Team
Perinatal Trauma and Bereavement Service
Margaret Oates Mother and Baby Unit
Referral forms and contact details
In the last year
Plans for next year
Perinatal Community Mental Health Team
Who to refer to the Perinatal CMHT?
- Pregnant and Postpartum women with new episodes of significant mental illness - from 13 weeks gestation to 1 year post-partum routinely.
- From 12 to 24 months post-partum, a woman may receive continued care from the service if the need remains perinatal. We will accept referrals in this post-partum period if the need is clearly related to a perinatal onset (such as where other treatment options have been tried and been unsuccessful).
- Women with enduring, serious mental illness who become pregnant, even when currently well.
- Women who have trauma experiences that is significantly impacted by the perinatal period.
- Women who have ongoing significant mental health needs, even if they are under the care of Adult Mental Health
- Women discharged from an inpatient stay on the Mother and Baby Unit (Margaret Oates Unit or other) if they live in the locality covered by the service.
- Women discharged from other inpatient facility if they are within the perinatal period (13 weeks gestation up to 12 months post-partum).
- Women who are at risk of a serious partum illness who are planning pregnancy. This will take the form of pre-conception counselling.
Please liaise with the team when;
- Substance misuse or alcohol misuse is the primary presentation.
- Where social problems seem to be the primary issue.
- Adolescents in difficulty - we will likely work with our CAMHS colleagues for an appropriate treatment package.
- Parenting problems in the absence of mental health need. Healthy Family Teams would be an appropriate resource.
- Intellectual Disability is the primary need.
- Women who no longer, or unlikely to have primary care of their infant. In the instance of infant loss, please consider the Trauma and Bereavement Service.
In these cases, individual circumstances would be considered to identify the most appropriate source of treatment.
Perinatal red flags
When referring, please always have in mind the perinatal red flags. These could indicate that the referral needs to be marked as urgent and we advise you telephone to alert us of referral as well as sending the form so this referral can be triaged urgently.
- Recent significant change in mental state or emergence of new symptoms
- New thoughts or acts of violent self-harm
- New or persistent expressions of incompetency as a mother or estrangement from the infant
- New feelings or thoughts that the person has never had before, that are making them feel disturbed or anxious
- Severe sleep deprivation
Perinatal Trauma and Bereavement Service
Who to refer to the Perinatal Trauma and Bereavement Service?
- Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following bereavement in the perinatal context. For example difficulties relating to intra-uterine death, neonatal death, still birth, early miscarriage, recurrent miscarriage, or termination of pregnancy for any reason.
- PTSD following birth trauma.
A severe fear of childbirth which may or may not relate to birth trauma (Tokophobia)
Also, please consider;
- Has more than 6 weeks passed since the trauma event?
- Is this person ready, able and willing to work actively and collaboratively in therapy?
- Can they attend appointments consistently and regularly?
- Has previous therapy at a lower intensity been tried or considered? If not, please consider referral to Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies.
- The woman must have given informed consent to this referral.
The Team are happy to have conversations about the appropriateness of referrals, and to signpost when you are more concerned about a woman you are working with.
Margaret Oates Mother and Baby Unit
Admission to the Mother and Baby Unit
- This is for women and their babies when home treatment is not considered the most effective or safe way to address their needs.
- Admission is usually managed through the Perinatal CMHT and so a referral should be made to this service in the first instance.
- Outside of office hours, please contact the Mother and Baby Unit directly and they will advise you on the steps you should take.
- For patients out of area, please contact the Mother and Baby Unit directly for guidance at any time.
- Please see the referral form for details on inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Referral forms and contact details
Perinatal CMHT and Perinatal Trauma and Bereavement Service
Tel: 0115 9529477
Margaret Oates Mother and Baby Unit
Tel: 0115 9529481
Email: PerinatalInpatientUnit@nottshc.nhs.uk
In the last year
2024 / 2025
Below is information about referrals received to both community services over the past year.
Across both services, we had clinical contact with around 1255 women and birthing people, offering assessment and treatment for their mental health needs.
| Perinatal CMHT | Trauma and Bereavement | |
| Referrals received | 1749 | 262 |
| Assessments attended | 787 | 135 |
| Assessments not attended/ DNA'd | 163 | 24 |
| Average wait for assessment | 3.9 weeks | 2.7 weeks |
| Average wait for treatment | 4.4 weeks | 2.9 weeks |
Plans for next year
2025 / 2026
- Focus on making the service more accessible to the diverse communities of Nottinghamshire. This work is across all services providing healthcare in the perinatal period looking to improve health outcomes for all birthing people.
- Reducing the wait times for assessments to the Perinatal CMHT.
- Work towards reaching the Access target across both services, of 1305 unique contacts.
- Closer working with third sector organisations, learning from their successes and joint endeavours, to improve our accessibility to the population of Nottingham.
- Improving our education of perinatal mental illness recognition and referral processes with our healthcare/professional partners. Please contact our team for further information on this.
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