The SPN Network Programme Team is hosted by NHS National Services Scotland. Clinical Leadership is provided by neonatal, obstetric and midwifery Lead Clinicians.
Carolyn Chiswick, Clinical Lead Obstetrician
I completed my undergraduate medical training in Glasgow, followed by specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh. During my specialty training, I undertook a period of research at the University of Edinburgh to complete a PhD examining the impact of obesity in pregnancy. I have been a Consultant Obstetrician at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh since 2018.
My clinical interests are in maternal medicine and diabetes in pregnancy. I am also interested in developing safe and effective care in maternity triage. I am motivated by a desire to ensure equitable access to high quality maternity care for women in Scotland, no matter where they live. I look forward to working with strategic partners across Scotland to achieve this and am delighted to have been appointed as the Obstetric Lead for the Scottish Perinatal Network.
Jennie Wild, Clinical Lead Midwife
Jennie qualified in 2006 after studying midwifery at the University of Bradford. Her career so far has been varied, working in busy hospitals as well as midwifery-led units, community midwifery and leading the rollout of a dedicated homebirth service.
Jennie is the ‘Digital Midwife’ for Argyll and Bute maternity services, supporting the use of digital records, home monitoring and video consultations. She’s working towards a Masters’ degree in Health Research at the University of Stirling, and hopes to undertake some qualitative research for her dissertation with focus on aspects of remote and rural midwifery practice.
Outside of work, she is a keen DIY’er and loves design and renovation projects. When she doesn’t have a hammer or grout trowel in hand, she can usually be found walking her two dogs or tending to her three wee chickens!
Jennie said “I am delighted to be joining the SPN team and welcome the opportunity to contribute to Scotland’s Maternity services at this strategic level. I’m passionate about service development providing equity of high-quality care across Scotland. I am an optimist and hope we all share the same goal, of creating positive experiences of maternity care for women, birthing people, and families; experiences we know will last a lifetime”
Allan Jackson, Clinical Lead Neonatologist
Allan completed his undergraduate medical training in Edinburgh, followed by speciality paediatric then neonatal training across the South East and West of the country. As a consultant he has worked both in the neonatal unit of the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital and for the ScotSTAR neonatal transport service, latterly as clinical lead for the ScotSTAR neonatal teams. As part of this role he has been involved in a number of national projects, including membership of the Best Start review.
These roles have allowed Allan to develop links across the Scottish Perinatal community, something that he is keen develop in his role as lead neonatal clinician for the network.
Outside of work he cycles, drinks coffee and enjoys good food.
Carsten Mandt, Senior Programme Manager
Susanna Mendes, Programme Manager
Lyn Steel, Assistant Programme Manager
Lyn has spent the past ten years working in the NHS, most recently within National Services Directorate starting as a Programme Support Officer, supporting national programmes through detailed data work, project coordination and behind‑the‑scenes organisation. Moving into the role of Assistant Programme Manager strengthened her understanding of national service planning and the “once for Scotland” approach. She has worked closely with clinicians and managers across boards, joining up conversations, preparing clear reports and supporting the delivery of consistent, high‑quality services. Lyn loves turning complicated requirements into something structured and genuinely useful whether through guidelines, thorough planning or an Excel dashboard she’s just a little bit obsessed with. She enjoys improving processes, supporting teams to work more efficiently, and is looking forward to helping ensure maternity and neonatal services across Scotland have the structure and information they need to thrive.
Outside of work, her two young children keep her busy, but she still finds time for crafting and happily admits she’s an Excel enthusiast at home too.
“I am thoroughly delighted to join the team and look forward to getting to know the network, the amazing stakeholders who are a part of it, and supporting the important work the SPN delivers.”
Roberta Shanks, Programme Support Officer
Roberta graduated from Glasgow City Central College of Commerce and has been a medical administrator for over 30 years. Her career path began within Primary Care and then National Health Service, where she was part of the team to deliver the then new Discharge Planning directive, achieving an award for innovation within a professional healthcare setting. She worked within the private sector for some time, supporting people and families living with a neurodegenerative specific disease before her return to NHS. Roberta found her niche project managing a diversity of workstreams within the Public Health (PH) landscape, including Children and Young People’s Mental Health (CYP MH), Adult Mental Health (AMH), Greening of the Estates, Workplace Management and the Healthy Working Lives programme (HWL), and where she honed her skills organising large scale events. Roberta is also skilled in the provision of high level administrative support to NHS Resilience, encompassing Environmental and Emergency Response, Emergency Preparedness/Business Continuity, Resilience and Response and IOC support and coordination.
Roberta then progressed her career supporting the West of Scotland Neonatal Managed Clinical Network (WoS MCN), encompassing both regional and national neonatal quality improvement pathways throughout Scotland. She was delighted when the opportunity arose to expand her knowledge of MCN and joined the National Neonatal Network (NNN) National Specialist and Screening Services Directorate (NSD). Roberta continues to administer West of Scotland regional guideline development. She especially enjoys the challenges of working from a national perspective and says, “I am proud to be part of a team who’s focus is to drive forward continuity of quality improvement, to give ‘voices’ of the Scottish perinatal community and population Scotland a platform to come together to influence change in a strategic, collaborative manner.”
Anne-Sophie Hoffmoen, Programme Support Officer