It comes following a statement from the Health Minister. As it stands, Northern Ireland remains the only part of the United Kingdom without a dedicated Mother and Baby Unit.

Ms McAllister has said: “After 20 years of discussion around the crucial need for a Mother and Baby Unit in Northern Ireland, this progress is long overdue but incredibly welcome.

“Community perinatal mental health services do fantastic work on the ground to support women going through mental health crises, at what will be a very difficult time in their lives, but they do not have the resources to provide the extent of support required. With 250 referrals from each Trust area per year and only around 70 accepted due to staffing pressures, this shortfall in provision must be addressed.

“These teams have said themselves that community care is sometimes not enough and that a specialist inpatient service is sorely needed. Too many women are separated from their babies and placed in general psychiatric inpatient wards, which in many cases only succeeds in worsening their suffering.

“This is why it is difficult to hear that interim measures will not be put in place until the unit can be opened, which will be deeply disappointing to many.

“The utmost priority here must be that mothers and babies in NI at last receive the specialist support they need and deserve in these crucial first days, weeks and sometimes months, of a child’s life, and that they are able to be treated together, rather than separated, at such a vulnerable stage.”