The 12 Parkinson's Excellence Network highlights from 2023

1. Parkinson’s UK's refreshed strategy launched, with additional funding for improving Parkinson’s services through the Complete Care for Parkinson’s programme. The strategy outlines how we will push for excellent health and care for people affected by Parkinson’s to 2026 and beyond. Read more about the refreshed strategy here.
2. We published the results from the 2022 UK Parkinson’s Audit. 506 services submitted data on 9,760 patients. In addition, 6,795 people gave feedback on the quality of their Parkinson's service. View the 2022 Audit results here.
3. Over 53,000 professionals participated in learning programmes through our Learning Hub and our volunteer-led education programme. Find out more about our volunteer-led education programme here.
4. 69 services participated in phase 2 of our better bone health national service improvement project which has been shortlisted in the category 'Best Not for Profit Working in Partnership with the NHS' at the 2024 Health Safety Journal (HSJ) Partnership Awards. Learn more about our better bone health programme here.
5. We partnered with the Flow Coaching Academy to support 6 services across the UK to set up a multidisciplinary team. Visit the Flow Coaching Academy's website here.
6. We collaborated with professionals and partners to raise awareness of time critical medications. This included launching 3 guides for professionals, working with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine on a new Quality Improvement Programme and collaborating with the Scotland Ambulance Service. Find out more about our time critical medications national programme here.
7. We awarded 9 Excellence Network project grants worth over £194,000. Visit our Excellence Network project grants webpage here.
8. We awarded funding for 4 new Parkinson’s nurse posts and 6 new allied health professional posts across the UK through our pump priming scheme. Learn more about pump priming here.
9. Working with our Community and Campaigns colleagues, we tackled and resolved 26 threats to services across the UK with successful outcomes. 
10. We hosted and exhibited at 24 health and care professional events across the UK including specialist interest hub events, regional group events and the World Parkinson’s Congress in Barcelona.
11. Through our funding, we have set up 3 Advanced Clinical Training Fellowship schemes for neurologists, geriatricians and psychiatrists. We have already awarded 2 fellowships through the neurology scheme and 2 fellowships through the mental health scheme! 
12. Finally, we celebrated outstanding services for people with Parkinson’s at our Parkinson’s Excellence Network Awards, both at our in person event in Birmingham and through our virtual live stream. Watch our Awards highlights video here to see the fantastic celebration. And find out more about the Excellence Network Awards here.

None of these incredible achievements could have happened without the hard work and dedication of health and social care professionals and members of the Parkinson’s community involved in the Network. 

Without the support from our leads, national priority programmes, groups, hubs and members, we would not be able to continue to strive for improved Parkinson’s services.

Looking ahead to 2024, we will keep pushing for excellent health and care for people affected by Parkinson’s.