Roberta Shanks

Programme Support Officer, National Neonatal Network
Specialist Services & Screening
NHS National Services Scotland

Roberta graduated from Glasgow City Central College of Commerce and has been a medical administrator for over 20 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 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.”