All Party Parliamentary Group For Parkinson's Disease Announces Report & Parkinson's Disease Society Launches Fair Care For Parkinson's

Main Category: Parkinson's Disease
Also Included In: Conferences
Article Date: 17 Jun 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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When: 8 July 2009 6:00pm - 8:00pm

What: Launch of the APPG's report into inequalities of access to services for people with Parkinson's and their carers.

In response to the report, the Parkinson's Disease Society will also launch Fair Care for Parkinson's, calling for the Government to ensure the APPG report recommendations are carried out.

Where: Macmillan Room, Portcullis House, Westminster

An inquiry by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Parkinson's has highlighted severe inequalities in access to Parkinson's services, despite the clear standards and evidence base set out in the National Service Framework for long term neurological conditions, and the NICE Parkinson's disease guideline.

Nearly 400 individuals and organisations including national and local health and social care providers, regulators, professional bodies and charities, provided written and oral evidence to the inquiry.

The disturbing findings from this report will be announced on 8 July 2009.

The PDS is launching Fair Care for Parkinson's to ensure all people affected by Parkinson's have equal access to the services they need.

Guest speakers will include:

- Baroness Gale, Chair, APPG for Parkinson's Disease
- Ann Keen MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health Services
- Steve Ford, Chief Executive of the Parkinson's Disease Society
- A speaker sharing their experiences of living with Parkinson's

About the APPG for Parkinson's Disease

Chair of the APPG for Parkinson's Disease:

- Baroness Gale

Officers of the APPG for Parkinson's disease:

- Baroness Finlay of Llandaff - Vice-Chair
- Mark Hunter MP - Vice-Chair
- Anne Milton MP - Vice-Chair
- Jeremy Browne MP - Treasurer
- Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville - Secretary
- Paul Burstow MP - Secretary
- Madeleine Moon MP - Secretary
- The APPG for Parkinson's Disease was established in June 2008 in order to keep Parkinson's disease and relevant public policy issues on the political agenda
- The Parkinson's Disease Society (PDS) acts as Secretariat for the APPG for Parkinson's disease
- The PDS member's survey 2007 Life with Parkinson's today - room for improvement identified that access to public services such as the NHS, social services and transport in England for people with Parkinson's and their carers varies considerably

About Parkinson's Disease

- Approximately 120,000 people in the UK have Parkinson's
- 10,000 people are diagnosed in the UK every year, and one in 20 is under 40
- Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition caused by the loss of dopamine in the brain, for which there is currently no cure. Whilst it is not life threatening, Parkinson's seriously affects day to day activities that we take for granted like walking, writing, speaking

-- Key symptoms are:

- Tremor

1 Rigid muscles
2 Slowness of movement

Source
Parkinson's Disease Society