To ask the Minister of Health to detail any training or guidance that is provided to frontline health and social care staff on recognising and managing heat-related illness.

The issue of heat-related illness is covered throughout the various pre- and post-registration healthcare training programmes supported by my Department.

In the pre-registration medical degree programmes delivered by Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and Ulster University (UU), guidance and advice is provided to students at various points, including:

disorders of temperature regulation, including hypothermia, hyperthermia and malignant hyperpyrexia, are identified as core conditions for final-year medical students at UU, with students expected to develop and consolidate their knowledge and skills in recognising and managing these conditions through workplace-based learning, supported by clinical supervisors and patient encounters during placements.

The QUB curriculum includes a number of relevant lectures and other learning across all years of the programme, including temperature intolerance and imbalance, hypothermia and hyperthermia, and differences in temperature regulation in older people.

QUB medical students would also be expected to encounter this issue during longitudinal integrated clerkships, general practice placements and other placements, as cases present themselves.

In relation to the post-graduate medical specialty training programmes delivered on my Department’s behalf by the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA), I can advise:

Foundation doctors are trained to recognise and manage patient deterioration due to heat-related illness.

GP trainees receive training in the assessment and management of acute heat-related illness

Other specialty trainees receive training on dehydration, electrolyte disturbances and medical emergencies, for example Emergency Medicine training specifically covers heat exhaustion and heatstroke, while Public Health training includes responses to extreme heat events.

In relation to the Nursing programmes delivered by local universities, students would be expected to come across various case studies on heat-related illness during their training, for example in considering the vulnerabilities of newborn and elderly patients, the risks of delirium and dehydration in older people, and the development of good clinical assessment skills to include vital signs, fluid balance, skin turgidity, and cognitive function.