Parkinson's Disease Society Calls For More Specialist Parkinson's Nurses, UK

Main Category: Parkinson's Disease
Also Included In: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 09 Aug 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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The Parkinson's Disease Society (PDS) estimates that two-thirds of people with Parkinson's living in the UK currently have access to a specialist Parkinson's nurse. The PDS believes that specialist nursing care should be available for every person with Parkinson's and calls for areas without a nurse to establish a specialist Parkinson's nurse post immediately. Creating more posts is a key step to making a reality of the NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) Guideline.

NICE recommends people with Parkinson's should receive:

-- regular access to specialist nursing care for clinical monitoring and medication adjustment
-- a continuous point of contact
-- reliable information about clinical matters and other issues that concern people with Parkinson's and their carers and that this may be provided by a Parkinson's Disease Nurse Specialist (PDNS).

NICE also notes that PDNS posts are cost effective. As part of a multi-disciplinary team PDNSs reduce the number of hospital admissions, shorten the length of stays and reduce readmissions.

But, with parts of the NHS suffering from huge financial deficits, the PDS is deeply concerned that the NICE recommendation will be ignored. Some Trusts and Primary Care Trusts may see specialist Parkinson's nurses as non-essential posts rather than as essential to improving the everyday lives of people with Parkinson's.

Current situation

The PDS has championed the post of nurse specialists in Parkinson's for the last 17 years and has developed a network of 220 posts across the UK.

Funding new posts

The PDS is firmly committed to building on the number of specialist nurses, by collaborating with health service providers in recruiting and deploying Parkinson's Disease Nurse Specialists (PDNS). The Society will carry on funding each new post for a two year period providing that it receives a "letter of intent" that the service will continue once the Society's funding comes to an end.

Protecting existing posts

As well as funding new posts, the Society is firmly committed to protecting existing posts. Over the last few months, the Society and its local branches in a number of areas have challenged Trusts where the future of the PDNS posts is under serious threat. In addition, several hospitals have asked their PDNSs to stop treating their Parkinson's patients and help out on general wards a number of days a week, reducing the amount of time they have available to help people with Parkinson's. The Society believes that these actions are extremely short-termist and are simply attempts by Trusts to save money. These developments are taking place despite NICE demonstrating that as part of a multi-disciplinary team specialist Parkinson's nurses are cost-effective, reducing the number of hospital admissions, shortening stays and reducing readmissions.

The PDS wants to protect specialist nurses and will work tirelessly to do so.

Parkinson's Disease Nurse Specialists: facts and figures

---- regular access to specialist nursing care is recommended by NICE

---- there are currently 220 PDNS posts in the UK

---- approximately two-thirds of people with Parkinson's have access to specialist nursing care

---- PDNSs:
- monitor and adjust patients' medication
- o are a reliable source of information about clinical and other issues
- are a continual source of support
- refer patients to other healthcare professionals
- educate other health professionals about Parkinson's

http://www.parkinsons.org.uk

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