Clinical Midwife Specialist/clinical Nurse Specialist Lactation And Infant Feeding

The National Maternity Strategy 2016-2026 identified the provision of evidenced based, skilled breastfeeding support as a key area requiring further development. Service users, during the development of the strategy identified breastfeeding as the most important area they wanted greater support with in maternity services. This need was also recognised in the findings of the First National Maternity Experience survey in 2020. Parents wanted more breastfeeding support and greater consistency of information and advice from healthcare providers in hospital units.

The CMM/CNM in Lactation and Infant Feeding will be responsible for providing expert breastfeeding support and education to mothers and infants, improving breastfeeding rates and contributing to positive maternal and infant health outcomes. The CMM/CNM post has a pivotal role in service planning, co-ordinating, and managing activity and resources within the clinical area. The main responsibilities are: quality assurance, resource management, staff development, practice development, facilitating communication and professional / clinical leadership.

The successful candidate will work within the Women and Infants Directorate. This role involves working with multidisciplinary teams in the hospital and community settings to ensure a holistic patient journey.