§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what evaluation has been made by his Department of the contribution of qualified geriatric nurses to the success of community care initiatives relating to geriatric people and the use of such qualified nurses by local services in these initiatives.
§ Mr. Newton[holding answer 18 March 1988]: There is no current research or evaluation of the specific contribution of qualified nurses with geriatric training to the success of community care initiatives. However research is being undertaken by the centre of policy research and development at the university of North Wales which is looking at "Old Age, Health and Formal 456W Domiciliary Support", which includes interviews with community nurses as part of an overall study of the working of care in the community.
There will be training in meeting the needs of elderly people during both district nurse and health visitor training, as well as the opportunity to attend the English National Board course in nursing elderly people. Elderly people requiring nursing care will be assessed by the trained nurse.