{"id":5921,"date":"2025-06-04T09:53:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T08:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oreillystewart.com\/?p=5921"},"modified":"2025-06-04T09:53:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T08:53:47","slug":"continuing-absence-of-mother-and-baby-unit-in-northern-ireland-raises-cause-for-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oreillystewart.com\/continuing-absence-of-mother-and-baby-unit-in-northern-ireland-raises-cause-for-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuing Absence of Mother and Baby Unit in Northern Ireland raises Cause for Concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the inquest<\/a> into the death of Orlaith Quinn in 2022, a BBC Spotlight programme \u201c<\/a>Mums in Crisis\u201d<\/a> <\/i>broadcast on 3rd<\/sup> June 2025, has highlighted the concerning state of perinatal mental health care in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Patrick Mullarkey<\/a> of O\u2019Reilly Stewart Solicitors acted on behalf of the family of Orlaith Quinn at the inquest. Orlaith took her own life on 11 October 2018 at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital (Belfast Health and Social Care Trust), less than two days after the birth of her third child, when she developed postpartum psychosis. Coroner Maria Dougan found that Orlaith\u2019s death was both \u201cforeseeable and preventable\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a call to action, to prevent similar deaths in the future, the Coroner<\/a> also recommended for that a Mother\u00a0and Baby Unit to be established in Northern Ireland, a facility where mothers can receive the appropriate psychiatric care without being separated from their child during the perinatal period. Northern Ireland remains to be the only part of the UK without a dedicated Mother and Baby Unit.<\/p>\n

The BBC spotlight programme highlighted that the absence of same is forcing mothers to seek treatment through other means in pursuit of not being separated from their new-born babies. \u201cMums in Crisis\u201d <\/i>serves as a poignant reminder of the need for comprehensive perinatal mental health care, appropriate risk management and swift diagnosis of postnatal psychosis, all of which are essential to prevent further tragedies from occurring, such as the one that took place in the Belfast Trust. However, three years on from Coroner Dougan\u2019s recommendations and no adequate action has been taken by the Northern Ireland Executive or the Department of Health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the inquest into the death of Orlaith Quinn in 2022, a BBC Spotlight programme \u201cMums in Crisis\u201d broadcast on 3rd June 2025, has highlighted the concerning state of perinatal mental health care in Northern Ireland. Patrick Mullarkey of O\u2019Reilly Stewart Solicitors acted on behalf of the family of Orlaith Quinn at the inquest. Orlaith […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"class_list":["post-5921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nContinuing Absence of Mother and Baby Unit in Northern Ireland raises Cause for Concern - O\u2019Reilly Stewart Solicitors - Belfast, Northern Ireland, Legal Firm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Absence of Continuing Absence of Mother and Baby Unit in Northern Ireland raises Cause for Concern\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oreillystewart.com\/continuing-absence-of-mother-and-baby-unit-in-northern-ireland-raises-cause-for-concern\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Continuing Absence of Mother and Baby Unit in Northern Ireland raises Cause for Concern - 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