More mental health staff, but no plan to listen to people with Parkinson's

Many people with Parkinson’s experience acute mental health symptoms including hallucinations, delusions, impulsive and compulsive behaviours, and depression. So this announcement is welcome.

However, it's vital that the UK government looks urgently at increasing training places across all key health professionals who are essential for Parkinson’s care. 

Can’t Wait

We launched our Can’t Wait campaign in November, which outlined how people with Parkinson’s are waiting years for care due to the NHS workforce crisis. And we called for a fully funded workforce plan to address the problems.

We were reassured when the chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement that there would be a workforce strategy. But, we're now 2 months on and have heard no further details of how the government is going to consult people with Parkinson’s as they develop their workforce plans. Read more about the 2022 Autumn Statement. 

What we think

Sam Freeman Carney, Health Policy and Improvement Lead at Parkinson’s UK, said: "We welcome Health Education England’s announcement about the expansion of training posts, especially those for psychiatry which people with Parkinson's have great difficulty accessing.

"However, we urgently need to see the expansion of training places across the range of key health professionals involved in the care of people with Parkinson's. 

"It’s been 2 months since the chancellor committed to an NHS workforce plan, but we have yet to see any details or hear how the views of people with Parkinson's will be taken into consideration.

"We are therefore calling on the UK government to set out how they intend to consult people with Parkinson's on their forthcoming workforce strategy."