Steve Brine was at the House of Commons last week to lend his support for a new campaign from the Parkinson's Disease Society.
Prospective MP for Winchester & Chandler’s Ford Steve Brine was at the House of Commons last week (Wednesday 8 July) to lend his support for a new campaign from the Parkinson’s Disease Society (PDS).
Fair Care for Parkinson's has been launched in response to a new report, released by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Parkinson's disease, which documents severe inequalities in access to Parkinson's services in the UK. It also shows that the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence guideline for Parkinson’s are not being followed.
The new campaign is designed to make sure the key recommendations from the report are carried out by the UK Government and the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland. It wants to see effective monitoring of Parkinson’s services to ensure they meet national guidelines and standards, an urgent review of the health and social care workforce and stronger national and local leadership by government.
Mr Brine paid tribute to the Winchester & Eastleigh Trust, based at Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital, for prioritizing the permanent appointment of a Specialist Parkinson’s Disease Nurse for the area but said he wanted to see much more help available to ensure consistency and especially to support carers who are very often elderly spouses shouldering a huge burden with little or no help.
Steve Brine said; “Sadly I have experience of Parkinson’s from a personal as well as a professional perspective and I know many people in this area are struggling with the disease, both directly as suffers themselves and as carers for loved ones. I was in Parliament last week to help raise awareness of this issue and to support the society campaign, Fair Care for Parkinson's but also to learn more about what is a complex and cruel condition.
“Some of the report findings were surprising to me, including the patchy access Parkinson’s sufferers appear to have to speech and language therapy services and fallout that can follow even the slightest delay in administering the daily drugs so many sufferers rely on. Even in the context of the extremely tough financial climate the local NHS will face in the next few years, we have to do better and I intend to work with the local NHS and the Parkinson’s Society to ensure we are offering the very best support to Parkinson’s sufferers and their carers in this part of Hampshire.”
You can read the report in full and find our more via www.parkinsons.org.uk/faircare or download it from this website right now via the 'Download' link below.
Pictured; Steve Brine points out Winchester on the map of UK Parkinson’s services; alongside PDS Chief Executive Steve Ford at the House of Commons event. See this picture in full size here.