Postnatal depression: 'Mums are dying and it's so preventable'

After her suicide attempt, Lucy was admitted to a mother and baby unit, but was later transferred to a general psychiatric unit where she died.

“It has been horrendous. Grief doesn’t even begin to describe it. We just feel as a family we have been let down by the system.” Faye said.

Lucy’s family is now campaigning to ensure other families do not suffer the same fate.

“We want people to be aware of what can happen. Postnatal depression is not a weakness or a flaw. It’s an illness,” Ann said.

They are calling on the government to standardise the level of mental health care for pregnant women and new mothers across the UK.

Mental health care provision during pregnancy and the first postnatal year varies depending on where a woman lives in the UK, according to a report published in February by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

The report found that even for women with severe and complex mental health conditions, access to specialist services and multidisciplinary teams was limited.

The college called for specialist services to be made available to all areas and for common perinatal mental health assessments nationwide.

Last month, Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledged an extra £500m for mental health services in England, including for perinatal mental health.

But Alison Morton, chief executive of the perinatal mental health charity PANDAS, said more funding was needed.

“I’d like to see more money put into specialist training for mental health professionals. The treatment of postnatal depression is not a one-size-fits-all, it varies from person to person so we need to have very specialist professionals,” she said.

Morton also called for awareness and education for parents, family members and professionals about perinatal mental health.

“We need to make sure campaigns are happening on a national level, rather than just in certain areas,” she said.

Lucy’s family has set up a petition calling for mandatory support and care for mothers suffering from perinatal mental health issues.

“We need the government to make this a priority. Our loss could have been avoided. We don’t want any other family to go through what we have gone through,” Faye said.