Funding for Hyperemesis Gravidarum care

We call on the UK Government to provide funding to improve physical and mental healthcare for sufferers, increase training, eliminate inequities in access and treatment as well as ensure HG sufferers have access to mental health support within 2 weeks of referral.

Up to 30,000 people will suffer with HG in 2025, all 8 times more likely to develop antenatal depression than other pregnant people. Hyperemesis gravidarum is not “morning sickness”—it is a debilitating pregnancy condition that profoundly impacts physical and mental health. For too long, we feel the suffering of women with HG has been dismissed. We feel HG sufferers remain excluded from the services they desperately need.

Funding

The Department of Health and Social Care recognises that Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) is a debilitating condition that can have a devastating impact on women and their families. This Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, and we are delivering our manifesto commitment that never again will women’s health be neglected.

We are determined to make sure that all pregnant women receive the safe, personalised and compassionate care they deserve. A number of measures are already in place to ensure women with HG are listened to and supported, with understanding around the seriousness of the condition and possible complications to both their physical and mental health. There is currently no funding or planned spends specifically allocated to HG care within the Spending Review.

Training

The standard of training for healthcare professionals is the responsibility of the independent statutory regulatory bodies who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses. Higher Education Institutions write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the regulators’ outcome standards.

Whilst not all curricula may necessarily highlight a specific condition, they all nevertheless emphasise the skills and approaches a healthcare professional must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.

It is the responsibility of individual employers to invest in the future of their workforce and ensure appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development to ensure they continue to provide safe and effective care.

Inequities in accessing treatment

Decisions about what medicines to prescribe are made by the doctor or healthcare professional responsible for that part of the patient’s care. Prescribers are accountable for their prescribing decisions.

Prescribers must always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed and that they take account of appropriate national guidance on clinical effectiveness, as well as the local commissioning decisions of their respective integrated care boards.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on antenatal care includes advantages and disadvantages of different pharmacological treatments for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy to support shared decision making.

Mental health

Anyone experiencing mental health problems, including those with HG, can seek help from their GP or through their local NHS Talking Therapies service. Information on how to access NHS mental health services and where to get urgent help is available on the NHS website at: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/.

The waiting time standard for NHS Talking Therapies services is that 75% of patients should have their first appointment within six weeks of referral, and 95% should be seen within 18 weeks. The latest NHS Talking Therapies data (for June 2025) that shows show 89.1% of people completing treatment waited less than 6 weeks for their first appointment.

For 2025/26, mental health spending is forecast to amount to £15.6 billion. This represents a significant uplift of £688 million in real terms spending on mental health compared to the previous financial year.

Mental health services are available for women who have pre-existing mental health needs prior to their pregnancy, as well as for those who experience mental health difficulties during or as a result of their pregnancy or labour. Mental health services are provided for these women through specialist perinatal mental health (PMH) services, maternal mental health services (MMHS) and Mother and Baby Units (MBUs).

Women can be referred to PMH services, MMHS or MBUs by any healthcare professional, including midwives, health visitors, GPs, hospital-based teams, mental health services and social workers. Self-referrals are accepted by some services.

Significant progress has been made to ensure women experiencing moderate to severe and complex perinatal mental health conditions can access specialist perinatal mental health services, including:

• 165 MBU beds have now been commissioned (153 currently operational) providing inpatient care to women who experience severe mental health difficulties during and after pregnancy.

• As of June 2025, MMHS are available in all parts of England. These services provide care for women with moderate/severe or complex mental health difficulties arising from birth trauma or loss in the maternity/neonatal context.

• A record 63,858 women accessed a specialist community PMH service or MMHS in the 12 months to February 2025. This is a 109% increase from March 2020 (30,625).

Department of Health and Social Care