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Mental health in pregnancy and after birth (SIGN)
Recommendations for health and social care professionals
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Screening and assessment
Screening for postpartum psychosis/predicting severe mental illness

Please update your RDS mobile app to version 4.7.1

We are pleased to advise that deep linking capability, enabling users to directly download individual mobile toolkits, has now been released on the RDS mobile app. When you install the update, you will see that each toolkit has a small QR code icon the header area beside the search icon – see screenshot below. Clicking on this icon will open up a window with a full-size QR code and the alternative of a short URL for sharing with users. Instructions are provided.

You may need to actively install the update to install RDS app version 4.7.1 to see this improvement. Installing this update is also strongly recommended to get the full benefits of the new contingency arrangements – specifically, that if the RDS website should fail, you will still be able to download new mobile app toolkits.

To check your current RDS version, click on the three dots bottom right of the RDS app screen. This takes you to a “More” page where you will see the version number. To install latest updates:

On iPhones – go to the Apple store, click on your profile icon top right, scroll down to see the apps waiting to be updated and update the RDS app.

On Android phones – these can vary, but try going to the Google Play store, click on your profile icon top right, click on “Manage apps and device”, select and update the RDS app.

Please get in touch with ann.wales3@nhs.scot with any questions.

Screening for postpartum psychosis/predicting severe mental illness

Mental health in pregnancy and after birth (SIGN)

Healthcare Improvement Scotland

The following risk factors are associated with postpartum psychosis:

pre-existing psychotic illness (especially bipolar disorder)
personal history of postpartum psychosis
family history of affective psychosis.

Ask pregnant women/birthing parents about personal history of postpartum psychosis, other psychotic disorders (especially bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia), and severe depressive disorder.

All pregnant women/birthing parents should be asked about family history of bipolar or postpartum psychosis.

Any significant and unexpected change in mental state in late pregnancy or the early postnatal period should be closely monitored and should prompt referral to mental health services and prioritisation for further assessment.