Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will increase the number of dementia specialist nurses working in transitions of care roles.

The Government wants a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.

The provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs), and may include dementia-specialist nurses. We expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs, taking account of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. These guidelines recommend providing people living with dementia with a single named health or social care professional who is responsible for coordinating their care.

In addition to dementia-specialist nurses, we want all health and care staff to have received appropriate training to provide high quality care to people with dementia. Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients. The required training needs are set out in the Dementia Training Standards Framework, which is available through Skills For Health.