To ask the Minister of Health whether his Department will collect data in relation to the number of health and social care staff that have received dementia-specific training.

My Department recognises the importance of our Health and Social Care workforce having access to education and training in relation to Dementia to enable them to provide safe and effective care.

The Dementia Education and Learning Framework was launched in September 2016. This framework supports the training requirements of staff working within dementia care across the range of health and social care sectors.

There are numerous Dementia specific training resources utilised within Health and Social Care Trusts. Storage of data and information relating to training will vary, for example line managers will keep records in relation to staff training and development. The Clinical Education Centre and the Learning Management System (also known as LearnHSCNI) also retain information regarding staff training provided through their services. Figures of attendance are also collated through the various training teams across disciplines of courses including: The Dementia bus, Dementia dictionary, Vocational skills and simulation training.

The recently established Dementia Project Board and associated Education and Training work-stream are currently scoping Dementia Education provision across the region. All five HSC Trusts are represented on the Project Board and the Education and Training Workstream.

The Education and Training workstream have begun to map current provision, gaps in provision and potential solutions to collating information relating to the wide variety of education and training staff can avail of.