Peer-support programme for women who breastfeed

This commissioning guide provides support for the local implementation of NICE public health guidance through commissioning, and is a resource to help health professionals in England to commission an effective peer-support programme for women who breastfeed.

This commissioning guide should be read in conjunction with the following NICE guidance:

• NICE public health guidance PH11. Improving the nutrition of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and children in low-income households
• NICE clinical guideline CG37. Postnatal care.

The NICE guidance covers clinical and cost effectiveness in detail and underpins the content of this guide. Implementation of the guidance noted above is the responsibility of local commissioners and/or providers. Commissioners and providers are reminded that it is their responsibility to implement this guidance, in their local context, in light of their duties to avoid unlawful discrimination and to have regard to promoting equality of opportunity. Nothing in the guidance should be interpreted in a way which would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

The guide:

• makes the case for commissioning a breastfeeding peer-support programme
• specifies service requirements
• helps you determine local service levels
• helps you ensure corporate and quality assurance.

The full text of this commissioning guide is openly available, and is accessed from the navigation menu on the right of the screen. The commissioning guide text and tool offers information and data on commissioning breastfeeding peer-support programmes. However, commissioners should commission breastfeeding peer-support programmes only as part of a breastfeeding strategy. The associated commissioning tool is designed to support the guide, and is currently available to primary care organisations in England. For information governance reasons, registration is required to access the tool. Go to the commissioning tool section within this guide page to register for access and to log in.

We are keen to improve the commissioning guides in order to better meet the needs of commissioners. Please send us your ideas for future topic-specific guides or other comments.

Read the NICE disclaimer for information on the use and accuracy of content on the NICE website.

Topic-specific Advisory Group: breastfeeding peer-support programme

September 2008

• Breastfeeding peer-support programme
• Commissioning a peer-support programme for women who breastfeed
• Specifying a peer-support programme for women who breastfeed
• Determining local service levels for a peer-support programme for women who breastfeed
• Assumptions used in estimating a population benchmark
• The commissioning tool
• Ensuring corporate and quality assurance