Parkinson's UK at the 2012 party conferences

We were at the 3 major UK party conferences in 2012 to speak to politicians about what they can do to help us improve the lives of people affected by Parkinson's.

• Liberal Democrats, Brighton, 22-26 September
• Labour, Manchester, 30 September-4 October
• Conservative, Birmingham, 7-11 October

We highlighted the raw deal people with Parkinson's are getting in welfare, social care and health because the condition is not understood properly.

Image: Nick Clegg tries our buzzwire game at the Liberal Democrat conference

Our news and blogs from the conferences

• Blog: On the Hunt for answers at the Conservative party conference - 12 October
• David Cameron comes out to play for Parkinson's UK - 9 October
• Blog: Meeting MPs, policy praise and Ed Balls buzzing at the Labour conference - 5 October
• Blog: Speaking up for change at the Liberal Democrat conference - 28 September
• Our stand has Nick Clegg buzzing - 26 September
• Call for understanding of Parkinson's at party conferences - 21 September

People with Parkinson's need your support

Help us get a fairer deal for people with Parkinson's. We've outlined below the key areas where we think policy changes need to be made.

Full briefing on welfare reform, social care and health (PDF, 72KB)

Parkinson's and welfare reform - what you can do

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and fitness to work tests

Call on political parties to adopt policies that include:

• exempting people with severe and progressive neurological conditions such as Parkinson's from Work Capability Assessments and ensuring more automatic awards of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• ensuring assessments measure the impact of fatigue and pain and the ability to do tasks repeatedly, reliably and safely and in a timely fashion, and for fluctuations in a person's condition to be properly recorded
• changing the system so people with progressive and incurable conditions are not being repeatedly re-assessed for fitness to work

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reform

Call on political parties to adopt policies that include:

• improving the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) criteria to ensure that people with Parkinson's do not lose out, particularly on the lifeline of mobility payments
• ensuring face-to-face assessments for PIP are only used as a last resort for people with Parkinson's, to save the additional anxiety and stress these cause
• ensuring that if a person with Parkinson's is on the highest rates of PIP, costly re-assessments are banned as the person is not going to get any better
• a cumulative impact assessment of the changes on disabled people and their families, as well as local advisory services, the NHS and care services who will be 'picking up the pieces' as people lose their benefits

Parkinson's and social care - what you can do

Call on political parties to adopt policies that include:

• speeding up the programme of legislative reform so that people with Parkinson's do not have to wait until 2015 for better entitlements to care and as far ahead as 2017 for a cap on their spiralling care costs
• addressing immediate issues in care to stop the cycle of cuts and poor quality care: this should include ring-fencing budgets for social care, and introducing a national body to take an overview of resources needed
• introducing a national minimum threshold of eligibility for care, which is set at 'moderate' level,  to stop councils 'squeezing' their criteria further, enabling people to get help with their needs earlier on
• full support for a maximum cap of £35,000 on care costs and a more generous means test in residential care. Together this means no one would have to spend more than 30% of their assets on care - including people with modest assets.
• recognising the economic case for reform: good social care can release savings elsewhere in the system, for example in the NHS or in ensuring that carers do not have to give up work to care
• adopting a political consensus for reform: the issue of care costs on people at the most vulnerable time of their lives is one which all parties need to address

Parkinson's and the health service - what you can do

Call on political parties to adopt policies that:

• ensure that all people with Parkinson's would receive appropriate access to all treatments and therapies needed to fully manage their condition, in accordance with existing NICE guidelines
• ensures the development and implementation of outcomes-based strategies for neurology in general and Parkinson's in particular across local health economies at a level and in a way that maximises clinical and financial efficiency
• ensure that all bodies with strategic planning responsibilities for the health services in any of the 4 countries of the UK take proper account of neurological conditions

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