Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that health and social care professionals are trained in Parkinson’s-related dementia care.

The standard of training for health care professionals is the responsibility of the health care independent statutory regulatory bodies. They set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses and Higher Education Institutions to write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the regulators outcome standards.

Whilst not all curricula may necessarily highlight a specific condition, they all nevertheless emphasize the skills and approaches a health care practitioner must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients, including for dementia.

Individual employers across health and social care are responsible for ensuring their staff are trained and competent to carry out their role, and for investing in the future of their staff by providing continuing professional development (CPD) funding. The required training needs are set out in the Dementia Training Standards Framework, which is available at the following link:

https://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/info-hub/dementia-2015-updated-2018/

The framework was commissioned and funded by the Department, and developed in collaboration with the sector. It sets out the essential knowledge, skills, and expected learning outcomes applicable across the health and care spectrum.

It is applicable to health and social care staff who work with people living with dementia, staff providing direct care and support, and those who provide leadership in transforming care, including social care managers and leaders.

To supplement local National Health Service employer investment for CPD, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out NHS England’s commitment to continue national CPD funding for nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals. There are a variety of resources available on the NHS England e-learning for health platform, designed to enhance the training and education of the health and social care workforce. This includes a programme on dementia care, and modules in Parkinson’s disease in geriatric medicine.