Sent 90 miles after giving birth while 'soaked in urine'

"I was getting increasingly anxious and confused. I couldn't make a cup of tea or change Patrick's nappy. I started screaming, I ran at the windows. I thrashed about on the floor for hours and I thought I was in hell. I was soaked in my own urine because I'd been pushing as if I was giving birth again every time I was in psychosis."

"It's lit a fire in me to get the word out there that this is a problem and that it is so needed, because there are so many families torn apart. I felt really lonely. I didn't have my home comforts around me."

"Some women from Yorkshire have been sent as far as London for specialist care at mother and baby units due to availability issues. Her family were told there were no available beds in Leeds - Yorkshire's only MBU - with Lizzy sent to the closest available unit able to treat psychosis and severe postnatal depression."

Lizzy Berryman experienced postpartum psychosis four days after giving birth and required emergency sectioning under the Mental Health Act. With no available beds at Leeds' only mother and baby unit in Yorkshire, she was transported 90 miles to Derby for specialist care. During the journey, she was in severe distress, experiencing hallucinations, paranoia, and severe insomnia. Her eight-week treatment required her family to spend thousands on accommodation while her husband's paternity leave ended, forcing him to stop daily visits. Women from Yorkshire have been sent as far as London for specialist care due to availability issues. Lizzy is now advocating for improved access to mother and baby units, emphasizing how service gaps tear families apart.

Read at www.bbc.com