We aim to provide patients’ with a better quality of life, help patients develop knowledge about their condition and educate them on how best to care for themselves.

We can signpost patients to services which can help them to manage their condition, as recommended by NICE guidelines. The service also includes outpatient clinics, telephone consultations and home visits if the patient is unable to leave the home. Assistance is also provided to the acute hospital wards.

Parkinson’s disease is a long term condition that becomes increasingly evident when 70 percent of dopamine producing cells has been lost. Some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are tremors, bradykinesia and or rigidity. All of these symptoms can make it frustrating or impossible to do everyday activities such as walking, eating, getting dressed, and driving. People often shuffle instead of walk, ‘freeze’ whilst doing tasks, suffer with depression, and the condition can lead to a form of dementia, suffer from tiredness and often need to ‘nap’ during the day.

People with Parkinson’s disease often present with very complex motor and non motor symptoms that need regular monitoring to prevent hospital admissions and to reduce the length of stay in the hospital. The specialist nurse can assess how they are functioning in their own environment, is a patients’ advocate, and offers support to patients and their family at the time of diagnosis and during the stages of the condition. This helps patients’ families who may feel isolated. Many patients live with the condition for a long period of time and the condition can be very isolating for patients and their families who often become reluctant to leave their house or face social situations.