To ask the Minister of Health what the recommended average caseload is for a district nurse; and whether there is a discrepancy between Health and Social Care Trusts in terms of exceeding this recommended caseload as of January 2021.

There is no recommended average caseload for a District Nurse and it is not feasible to compare caseloads across H&SC Trusts as each local population needs differ.

Delivering Care is the policy framework in Northern Ireland which aims to support the provision of high quality care which is safe and effective in hospital and community settings, through the development of a framework to determine staffing ranges for the nursing and midwifery workforce in a range of major specialties.

Delivering Care Phase 3 for District Nursing made staffing recommendations in order to ensure sufficient capacity to address future service demands and implement key drivers. This was reviewed in 2020 and modelling is currently being developed in order for district nursing to have sufficient capacity to address future service demands and key service drivers, with particular emphasis on population health and public health for patients, families and communities.