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WQ.167/2022
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY L.V. FELTHAM OF ST. HELIER CENTRAL
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 12th SEPTEMBER 2022
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 20th SEPTEMBER 2022
Question
Will the Minister state whether the hours for the infant feeding specialist have been reduced since the service was initiated, and if so what is the difference in hours and what is the rationale for the reduction in service; and will she further advise whether all new parents can access the specialist feeding advice they need, both within the maternity unit and after they return home with their child, so that they have the best opportunity to breastfeed successfully?
Answer
The Infant Feeding Midwife post in Health and Community Services department (HCS) was initiated in October 2021 and had funding for 6 months until April 2022 as part of the Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI). This was funded via the Preventable Disease Budget.
When the funding ceased, Maternity continued to support the post from within existing resource full time until the 19June 2022, when, due to staffing pressures the hours of the post reduced to 2 days per week to enable the midwife to support clinical care delivery.
The Infant Feeding Midwife works both in the community and the Maternity Unit and works alongside the BFI Health Visitor.
Every midwife is trained to provide feeding advice, not all new parents need specialist advice, for those that do, they can access it within the maternity unit and in the community.
At time of writing, a business case to fund this post substantively in HCS has been submitted during 2022 and is currently being considered as part of growth bids.