Raising awareness of Parkinson's among local authorities

14 July 2016

Last week (5-7 July) we raised awareness of Parkinson's at a major meeting of English local councils and staff.

We wanted to share how they can better support people with the condition and their families.

Improving services

The Local Government Association annual conference brought together over 1,300 delegates from across England to discuss councils' provision of local services like health and social care.

For the first time, we exhibited at the conference and shared the views of people affected by the condition.

In particular, we urged local councils to:

• do more to ensure that people with Parkinson's and their carers can access information about social care and that it's easy to apply for
• encourage their staff that assess people's social care needs to join the UK Parkinson's Excellence Network to improve their knowledge of the condition
• improve the way that local councils assess people with Parkinson's for the Blue Badge parking scheme

A great opportunity

Policy and Campaigns Advisor Phil Reynolds said:

"Attending the LGA Conference was a fantastic opportunity to make contact with lots of councillors with responsibility for providing services like social care and others with personal connections to the condition.

All of them were keen to know how they could help better support people with Parkinson's and we'll use these new relationships to collaborate with local authorities to further improve services across England."

http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/news/14-july-2016/raising-awareness-parkinsons-among-local-authorities