The shocking postcode lottery faced by mothers with postnatal illnesses

An ITV survey has revealed that many new mothers who are severely ill with a postnatal illness are being forced to travel more than a hundred miles for treatment.

The NHS has admitted there is a lack of help in the South West, with many places having no specialist perinatal mental health services at all.

One mother from Wiltshire says she contemplated suicide after becoming victim to the postcode lottery scandal.

Rachel Anning became unwell after a traumatic birth. Memories of nearly losing her baby triggered post-traumatic stress disorder, postnatal depression, anxiety and eventually psychosis.

Things became so bad that she even had thoughts about taking her own life:

Rachel, who lives in Trowbridge, was finally referred to a specialist mental health facility known as a Mother and Baby Unit. But it was near her parents' home in Cheshire.

This meant there was 170 miles separating Rachel and her baby from her partner in Wiltshire.

But a survey commissioned by ITV and the perinatal mental health charity PANDAS shows this isn't uncommon.

The Mother and Baby Unit in Bristol is the only one in the South West. It only has four beds available for women, which experts say is simply not enough.

In the West new mothers are facing a postcode lottery.

In Bristol, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset there are no specialist teams at all for women suffering from a postnatal illnesses.

But cross the border to Devon or Dorset and mothers living here will be given the very best care, which meets nationally agreed standards.

When Rachel returned home to Wiltshire she was shocked by the lack of help. She sent over 30 emails and called services - every reply told her she was in the wrong postcode, that she didn't meet the right criteria.

In the survey by ITV News in conjunction with the charity PANDAS, who provide help and support for parents suffering with perinatal mental illnesses, hundreds of women returned similar stories:

NHS England recognises there is a problem - it's earmarked £365 million worth of funding over the next five years to improve care.

In the South West that's likely to mean an expansion of the existing mother and baby unit in Bristol as well as providing another unit in the West Country.

But Rachel says more still needs to be done to finally end this postcode lottery scandal.