Pregnancy and neonates: postnatal mental health
Indicator
The percentage of women who have given birth in the preceding 12 months who have had an enquiry about their mental health between 4 to 16 weeks postpartum.
Indicator type
General practice indicator suitable for use in the Quality and Outcomes Framework.
This document does not represent formal NICE guidance. For a full list of NICE indicators, see our menu of indicators.
To find out how to use indicators and how we develop them, see our NICE indicator process guide.
Rationale
Women may be vulnerable to common mental health problems in the antenatal and postnatal periods. Early identification and management of these conditions are of benefit to women and their children. At present, many women do not recall being asked about their mental wellbeing during this time. The aim of this measure is to encourage practices and GPs to discuss mental health and wellbeing with women.
Source guidance
Antenatal and postnatal mental health: clinical management and service guidance. NICE guideline CG192 (2014, updated 2020), recommendation 1.5.4
Specification
Numerator: The number of women in the denominator who have had an enquiry about their mental health between 4 to 16 weeks postpartum.
Denominator: The number of women who have given birth in the preceding 12 months.
Calculation: Numerator divided by the denominator, multiplied by 100.
Exclusions: Women who are less than 16 weeks postpartum at implementation.
Personalised care adjustments or exception reporting should be considered to account for situations where the patient does not attend a review, declines to respond, or if asking the patient about their mental health is not appropriate.
Expected population size: Office of National Statistics (ONS, 2023) NOMIS: Life events, Live births in England and Wales by sex and characteristics of mother: national/regional (England, 2022) and ONS (2024) population estimates for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland: England, mid-2022 show that 1.01% of people in England had a live birth during the year: 101 patients for an average practice with 10,000 patients. To be suitable for use in QOF, there should be more than 20 patients eligible for inclusion in the denominator, per average practice with 10,000 patients, prior to application of personalised care adjustments.