DML Clinical Nurse Manager Supplementary Campaign

Please note;

• CV's will not be accepted
• All correspondence via Rezoomo

Informal Enquiries

We welcome enquiries about the role.

Name: Niamh Mac Shane DPHN Dublin South West

Email: Niamh.macshane@hse.ie

Phone: 086 0233448

There is currently 0.5 WTE permanent, part time vacancy available in Dublin South West

A panel may be formed as a result of this campaign for Dublin and Midlands from which current and future, permanent and specified purpose vacancies of full or part-time duration may be filled.

Details of Service

Ireland’s first National Maternity Strategy – Creating a Better Future Together was launched in 2016. The strategy and implementation plan sets out a blueprint to significantly improve the service provided to mothers and their babies.

The National Maternity Strategy 2016 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 and in the community.

In 2020 the total number of births in Ireland was 55,959. There are 19 maternity and neonatal units. There are 4 tertiary, 2 regional and 13 level one neonatal units. Post natal community support is delivered through 32 public health nursing service areas. The diversity of the scale of the operations in the different locations adds to the complexity.

Ireland compares poorly to other European countries in relation to rates of breastfeeding, despite the recognised importance of breastfeeding for mothers and infants. The first few hours, days and weeks of a new-born’s life are a critical window for establishing lactation and for providing mothers with the support they need to breastfeed successfully.

Since 1991, the Baby-friendly Initiative (BFI) has helped to motivate facilities and services providing maternity and new-born services worldwide to better support breastfeeding. The Baby Friendly Initiative focuses on providing optimal clinical care for new mothers and their infants. There is substantial evidence that implementing the World Health Organisations (WHO’s) “Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding” improves care delivered to new parents and breastfeeding rates.

Following a review of the Baby Friendly Initiative in Ireland and the publication of revised WHO guidance for the implementation of Baby Friendly Initiative in 2018, revised National Standards for the Baby Friendly Initiative within hospitals in Ireland have been developed. The standards describe the optimum infant feeding practices and management process required within maternity services in order to implement the;

• HSE infant feeding policy for maternity and neonatal services (HSE, 2019)
• HSE policy on the marketing of breast milk substitutes in the public health services (HSE, 2021).

The HSE Infant Feeding Policy for Community Healthcare Organisations and Primary Care Teams (2018) describes optimum care delivered within community services.

The National Woman and Infants Health Programme are providing governance for the implementation of the revised standards in Maternity Services and are working in collaboration with the National Breastfeeding Coordinators and the National Breastfeeding Implementation group (NBFIG). It is envisaged that the BFI will be expanded to primary care teams as the quality improvement programme is further developed.

The NBFIG are overseeing the delivery of a range of actions across 5 priority areas within the Breastfeeding in a Healthy Ireland: Health Service Executive Action Plan 2016-2021. The targets set in the national plan is for 100% of maternity and community health care services implementing standardised infant feeding policies and a 2% annual increase in breastfeeding rates.