Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that people with dementia that are discharged from hospital as a result of the covid-19 outbreak are placed in care homes with staff that have received dementia training.

The COVID-19 discharge service requirements support the safe and rapid discharge of patients who no longer need acute care. Wherever possible, people who are clinically ready will be supported to return to their place of residence, where assessment of longer-term needs will take place. The Government has made £1.3 billion available to support this.

On training, the Department is working with its partners to ensure that relevant guidance is communicated to care providers who are supporting people with dementia in line with the ‘COVID-19: Ethical Framework for Adult Social Care’. This includes sharing guidance and resources for dementia training including the Dementia Training Standards Framework 2018. The Government is working with the sector to ensure that dementia awareness and training is made available to staff where possible.

The COVID-19 framework can be accessed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-ethical-framework-for-adult-social-care