When the bough breaks: Charles street parent and baby day unit

Abstract

Charles Street Parent and Baby Day Unit (PBDU), is a specialized, multi-disciplinary, psychiatric day hospital in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, that provides a comprehensive service of high intensity, customized treatment to parents with psychological disorders associated with pregnancy, childbirth, stillbirth, miscarriage and termination (Cox et al., 1993). The unit is the major component in the perinatal psychiatry service, which also involves a liaison psychiatry service to the North Staffordshire Maternity Hospital and an in-patient facility in an acute admission ward. These concentrated efforts led to national recognition in 1992 when the unit was awarded the Hospital Doctor Team of the Year Award. This report briefly outlines the service and the clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of clients referred to the PBDU over a 1-year period.