To ask the Minister of Health to detail the number of deafblind social workers there are within the health service, broken down by constituency.

Table 1 below outlines the number of Social Workers in each of the five Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts that work specifically with individuals who are deafblind.

It is important to acknowledge that deafblind individuals are not defined by their sensory support needs specifically and like all other members of society may require social work intervention and support for various reasons. Within this context, social workers situated across the broad spectrum of specialist services for children and adults may all work with individuals who are deafblind, depending on their presenting primary assessed need at a particular time.

Specialist sensory support services and social workers with experience working with deafblind individuals are in a position to offer bespoke advice, or direct input in such circumstances as and when required.

Table 1 –