Parkinson's Advanced MasterClass work Project

Aim

To rearrange the Parkinson’s disease (PD) service during the COVID-19 pandemic and assess the impact of changes on people with PD.

Service reorganisation

At the start of the pandemic, three members of staff were redeployed, leaving Amy and Ann to provide the core PD service to the 700-strong caseload:

• all home visits and clinic appointments were converted to phone or video
• care and nursing home outreach service was converted to phone
• patients were able to call in for crisis management
• all patients were triaged and prioritised for follow-up
• Amy and Ann extended their working days

Patient response

• The patients appreciated the support and understood the need to work differently
• Some frail, elderly patients became incredibly isolated
• The lockdown significantly impacted on patients’ mental health and appeared to compound pre-existing cognition issues
• The volume of calls into the service increased, but calls were not always appropriate

Service recovery

Since the full team were released from redeployment in May 2020:

• waiting lists have been cleared
• face-to-face consultations have resumed, though the service is also offering telephone and video appointments
• the team is reviewing its business continuity plan
• the team has submitted a business case to employ more nurses