Parkinson's and Other Movement Disorders HIT review of 2015-16

Dr Alan Whone, Director of the Parkinson’s and Other Movement Disorders Health Integration Team (MOVE HIT), gives an update on the HIT’s progress in 2015-16.

The Movement Disorders HIT works to improve quality of life for people with Parkinson’s and other movement disorders in the Bristol area. Our work also aims to have international impact.

We moved into the new Bristol Brain Centre in May 2015, which hosts clinics, research, education and administration under one roof, enabling full integration of clinical services and research.

I was pleased to receive the Outstanding Achievement award at the Bristol Health and Care Awards in March. I see this as a shared award, with the patients and professionals who believe it is unacceptable to watch those with Parkinson’s slowly decline.

We are continuing to develop our advanced treatment services, with a new regional Duodopa service at North Bristol Trust (NBT), which is starting to assess patients for eligibility for this advanced treatment for Parkinson’s.

Our brain-infused nerve growth factor trials are progressing well. We expect to publish the potentially ground-breaking results of the double-blind component later this year. In March 2016, the results from 130 patients, all tested at NBT, were published in The Lancet Neurology and indicated that treatment with Rivastigmine reduced falls in Parkinson’s by 40 per cent. In January some Parkinson’s laboratory science in which we collaborated was published in Nature Medicine and, in July, a European-wide deep brain stimulation trial in Parkinson’s where we were the UK site, was published in The Lancet Neurology. In November, alongside Parkinson’s UK and the Cure Parkinson’s Trust, we hosted an open Parkinson’s research meeting to give an update to the public about our research.

We continue to hold quarterly meetings with our enthusiastic and dynamic patient and public involvement (PPI) group. Our PPI members have brought together some wonderful designs for the garden at the Bristol Brain Centre. We are also exploring patient-led research to help create a truly patient-centred service.

Kevin Carter, Parkinson’s UK’s local advisor, is now working alongside our consultants and nurses in an information support role, using our dedicated Parkinson’s information support room. This is a first-in-UK arrangement between Parkinson’s UK and the NHS, and is proving to be an effective and valuable collaboration.

We are hoping to launch our MOVE-hIT@NBT website in the next few months, with information about services, treatments, research, training and education all in one place. This site will be a platform to make our in-development, post-auditing, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire-wide integrated Parkinson’s pathway available to everyone.

www.bristolhealthpartners.org.uk/move