Perinatal Mental Health support services

Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (BNSSG ICB) will be redesigning its existing Perinatal Mental Health voluntary sector offer. There is a need to ensure that the voluntary service commissioned by the ICB is equitable across BNSSG and meets the wider aims for perinatal mental health as part of our response to the NHS Long Term Plan (LTP). The ICB will be working with a collaborative of its existing providers to deliver the following objectives:

• To deliver a service that helps to support women in and out of the specialist perinatal service within Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP).
• The service needs to target specific groups that are underserved in the area and support them to access the specialist team (different ethnicities, LGBTQ+, socially deprived areas etc).
• To ensure that the service helps to support the aims of the LTP, for example increasing the offer for partners and developing the parent infant relationship.

The providers within the collaboration will be those the ICB currently contracts with which are Bluebell, Mothers For Mothers, Homestart North Somerset and Rockabye.

The redesign process will take place between January-March 2023, with a plan for the new service to be implemented during the 23/24 financial year. The contract length will be for 5 years from 23/24 and each provider will hold a separate contract with the ICB which will include an MOU detailing their agreement to work in collaboration with the other providers. The value of this notice is £125k per year, totalling £625k for the full 5-year contract. The exact value of each individual contract within the re-design process will be determined as part of the collaborative work. Historically the contracts within Perinatal Mental Health have only been for 1 year, this has resulted in provider instability. Awarding a 5-year contract will ensure that providers have the security they need to focus solely on service delivery.