Every Mother Deserves a 6–8 Week Maternal Health Assessment

After a baby is born, 6–8 weeks is an important point at which a mother’s own health and recovery should be assessed.

NICE guidance recommends that at 6–8 weeks after birth, a GP should assess the woman's health and wellbeing, respond to concerns and refer her for further care where appropriate. The assessment is intended to consider both physical and psychological health, including issues that may arise following childbirth.

Northern Ireland endorsed NICE's postnatal care guidance, including NG194, following its local review process. But a gap remains between guidance and accountability.

The Northern Ireland Department of Health has confirmed to me that GPs have no specific contractual obligation to offer a routine maternal 6–8 week postnatal assessment to every woman. The Department has also confirmed that it does not hold central data showing how many women receive these assessments.

Meanwhile, mothers are telling us that they are sometimes not offered an assessment at all, or are being told that the service is no longer provided. We are gathering these experiences through The Maternal Checkpoint survey to better understand what is happening in practice.

This should not depend on where a woman lives, which GP practice she is registered with, or whether she knows to ask for it herself.

We are calling for change. We are asking the Northern Ireland Department of Health to establish a universal, proactive and accountable 6–8 week maternal postnatal health assessment for every woman following birth.

This should: 

• be proactively offered to every mother;
• have a clear minimum standard for what the assessment should cover;
• address both physical and psychological health and wellbeing;
• provide clear referral and escalation pathways when concerns are identified;
• have clear responsibility for delivery and oversight;
• be monitored, with uptake and inequalities in access measured;
• If general practice is not the appropriate or sustainable setting to provide this universally, then Northern Ireland should establish an alternative service model that can deliver the assessment consistently and accountably.

Every mother deserves the opportunity to be seen, heard and assessed after birth.

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Have you experienced this yourself?

We are gathering experiences from mothers in Northern Ireland to understand what is happening in practice. Your experience will help us build the evidence alongside this petition and identify where gaps in access may exist.

Our short survey takes around one minute.

Share your experience with The Maternal Checkpoint →  SURVEY

We will use the signatures and evidence gathered through this campaign to approach MLAs and the Northern Ireland Department of Health and ask for action on the 6–8 week maternal health assessment. We want Northern Ireland to have a maternal postnatal service that is accessible, consistent, meaningful and measurable — so that no mother is left wondering whether anyone is checking on her health after birth.