Just two breastfeeding consultants hired a year after €1.58m funding allocation
A review of international workforces carried out almost six years ago by the Health Research Board indicated there should be 64 lactation consultants here. Picture: Alamy/PA
More than a year since €1.58m was allocated to recruit 24 lactation consultants for the HSE, just two people have been hired and they have not yet started work.
These specialists in breastfeeding can assess and treat nursing problems. It is accepted internationally they increase the likelihood of mothers initiating breastfeeding.
In May 2021, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly made €1.58m available for recruiting these staff.
However a HSE spokeswoman said: “At least 12 posts have been advertised, with two posts having provisional start dates of September 2022. The remaining posts are awaiting advertisement at a local level.
"While these posts are a priority, many of the posts awaiting advertisement are at Community Healthcare Organisation level where recruitment is challenging for nursing-related grades due to other competing demands."
A review of international workforces carried out almost six years ago by the Health Research Board indicated there should be 64 lactation consultants here.
However, there are just the equivalent of 32.9 lactation consultants working in public health, including part-time staff, although this has increased from 15 in 2017.
They are more often found in maternity hospitals with almost 25 staff (24.6) in these 29 units. The nine community health organisations have the equivalent of 8.3 lactation consultants.
That is an overall increase since May 2021 of less than three full-time staff, despite 34.5 roles having been approved over the last two years through various funding streams.
Recruitment is also funded through dedicated money from the National Maternity Strategy, to ensure at least one dedicated post in each maternity hospital.
Strategy funding saw the equivalent of 10.5 roles approved, and the spokeswoman said eight are working, with 2.5 awaiting start dates.
Senior lactation consultant Sue James said: “We welcome the decision to put extra resources into the community, and support people who can’t afford private care, but we’d like this to be hurried up.”
Public care helps women who do not have health insurance as “the people who need it the most have the least access", she said.
Spokeswoman for AIMS Ireland, a campaign organisation for improvement in maternity services, and lactation consultant Krysia Lynch said: “I’m delighted the money has been ringfenced, but disappointed the mothers on the ground are not seeing the benefit of it.”
HSE campaigns promoting breastfeeding are changing attitudes but more support is needed, she said.
“The numbers are not the full story, we need more lactation consultants in hospitals and in communities, and we need them on every day of the week,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Bainne Beatha, a breastfeeding support advocacy group, said: "We are disappointed by the pace of progress, especially in the context of existing vacancies in the system.”
