Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans are in place to support people with Parkinson’s disease who have mental health conditions.

Officials have noted the recommendations of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Parkinson's disease. NHS England is working with the Neurological Alliance in support of the new national Neurology Advisory Group, which is considering ways to reduce variation and drive improvement in neurological care. This includes looking at issues such as psychological support, which were raised in the report ‘Parity of Esteem for People affected by Neurological Conditions: meeting the emotional, cognitive and mental health needs of neurology patients’, published by the Neurological Alliance on 5 July 2017. The Neurological Alliance is an umbrella organisation that represents a wide range of neurological condition charities including Parkinson’s UK.

Parkinson’s disease is more commonly diagnosed in older people, therefore NHS England anticipates that its work to improve older people’s mental health, and particularly increase their access to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services, will benefit people living with Parkinson’s disease. NHS England has introduced financial incentives through the Mental Health Quality Premium in 2017/18 and 2018/19 to reward clinical commissioning groups for improvements in access to, and outcomes from, IAPT services for under-represented groups, in particular older people.