To ask the Minister of Health for an update on the Dementia Hospital Companions scheme in the (i) the Belfast; and (ii) South Eastern Health and Social Care Trusts.

The Dementia Hospital Companions scheme has been implemented in both the Belfast Health & Social Care Trust and the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.

In the Belfast Health & Social Care Trust the Dementia Companion role was implemented across the Care of the Older People’s inpatient wards in the Trust and has been very successful in supporting patients with dementia using diversional therapy to engage and help them settle into new and strange environments.

Originally funding was to be used to fill eight posts across a work pattern of Monday to Friday, 9am until 5pm. However the Trust identified that resources would be more effective if the service was increased to seven days a week from 8am till 8pm. There are currently six Dementia Companions, with the Belfast Trust actively recruiting a further two to fill all required posts.

In the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust the number of Dementia companions has increased from four to six. They are guided by and work alongside the registrant and non-registrant nursing staff within three acute hospital settings. Two companions work within the medical directorate in the Ulster Hospital and two within Lagan Valley Hospital; one companion works in the surgical directorate Ulster Hospital; and one companion works within the unscheduled care directorate in the Downe Hospital. The Trust is currently working towards introducing the dementia companion role as a bank shift dependent on specific needs across service areas on a daily basis.

In June 2021, the SEHSCT Dementia companion team were also finalists in the Royal College of Nursing National Awards under the nursing support category.