"Parent and Baby Unit, Bucknall Hospital, North Staffordshire"

I have learnt that this site is to be abandoned by the NHS and services placed elsewhere; in the case of the Parent and Baby Unit this will be in a "central location". I have also learnt that there are attempts to alter how the Unit functions and delivers its vital services. I am very distressed about this for the following reasons:

My daughter was recently referred to this unit after an extreme mental collapse following a traumatic birth. The whole family rallied and supported her but it was extremely distressing to her slip further and further down the abyss no matter what we did or said.

Her GP called in the Crisis Team who referred her to the unit. I took my normally mature, confident, happy and successful daughter sobbing there one morning and after a warm secure welcome and 5 minutes assessment she was kept in for the day and on picking her up was told she had 7 day access there and overnight support from the Crisis Team was an overwhelming relief to us all.

This blanket level of support with a dedicated network of nursery nurses, psychotherapy, counselling and psychiatry has brought my daughter peace and the confidence to become a happy, loving, breastfeeding mother. I am most concerned that if this service is altered or reduced in any way it will bring far more problems for the health service and society as a whole never mind that on a personal level.

Also we found this hospital very easy to access - the road network is good - often more "central" locations are more gridlocked and harder to access. In our experience new often means larger which, particularly with mental health issues, is more daunting and harder to access. Bucknall is a small, homely and welcoming site with easy access and easy parking. It has helped our daughter in a relatively short time to regain her life and her family's life and she will eventually return to her profession unscarred which would not have been the case if this wonderful service had not been there.