Parkinson's Nurses
SEE STAFFING UPDATE BELOW
Parkinson's nurses provide expert care because they only work with people with the condition.
They can support people coming to terms with their Parkinson's diagnosis.
A large part of the role is helping people to manage their medication, so they get the best results and fewer side effects.
They can make referrals to other professionals such as speech and language therapists and physiotherapists.
They train other health and social care professionals - for example on making sure people with Parkinson's get their medication on time in hospital.
PARKINSON'S NURSES LEICESTERSHIRE
Elizabeth Hillman
Tel: 0116 258 4795 / 07415 332544 Email: pdns.leics@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
One of the main aims of the Parkinson's Nurse Team is to prevent problems escalating and early intervention can avoid hospital admission. Either the patient, family member or carer can contact the nurses by telephone or email. If no-one is available when you ring, leave a message and please include your full name and phone number. If you are speaking on behalf of a patient please give the name of the person concerned. Note: at present two of the nurses posts are vacant and until new staff are recruited the service will be limited. We ask if you could seek support from your GP or make use of the advice available from the Parkinson’s nurses on the Parkinson’s UK Helpline. (see below)
PARKINSON’S NURSES NEWS
The Parkinson’s Nurses team is changing. Two of the nurses, Kesha and Aro, are leaving and taking up new roles within the Trust. Kesha left in January and Aro will leave in mid-February. However lead nurse Liz Hillman has confirmed that both nurses will be replaced. Recruitment has already commenced, and that there has been some early interest in the roles which is positive. This means that until the replacement nurses are recruited and inducted, there will be a period of time where the usual standard of support will be reduced.
To help you through this time of change Liz encourages patients to do two things:
seek support from your GP
Contact the Parkinson's UK Helpline. The helpline is a free and confidential service and trained advisers, including specialist Parkinson's nurses are available to offer support.
The helpline is open Monday-Friday 9am-7pm, and on Saturday's 10am-2pm.
Parkinson's UK Helpline
Tel: 0808 800 0303 Email: hello@parkinsons.org.uk