Parkinson's UK Excellence Network Awards 2025: meet our finalists!

This award recognises exceptional support from an individual health or care professional or a team. Nominations for this award were from people with Parkinson’s or their loved ones.

Our finalists are:

• Dr Mihaela Boca
• Kay Mair
• Rhian Lewis.

This award recognises the contribution of a professional who has made a big impact on the care of people with Parkinson’s over a short period of time. They’re dedicated to putting people with Parkinson’s at the heart of what they do.

Our finalists are:

• Daniel Baines
• Dr Catherine Penman
• Elizabeth Hudson.

We want to recognise the contribution of a professional who has made a remarkable impact on the care of people with Parkinson’s over their career.

This individual has made an outstanding contribution to the care of people with Parkinson’s and those who love or care for them. Their dedication and professionalism is inspirational.

Our finalists are:

• David Heseltine
• Louise Ebenezer
• Sharon Hope.

We encourage services to try and drive up standards of care for people with Parkinson’s. This award acknowledges services that have introduced a new technique or technology, or adapted ways of working, to meet new challenges.

Our finalists are:

• START RIGHT, STAY WELL: Developing and implementing a swallow screening tool for patients with Parkinson’s in an emergency department, Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust.
• Graphic Scores: Using sound and art to bring together young people living with Parkinson’s and improve mental health, University College London.
• The Impact of Managing Non-Motor Symptoms: anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks and pain, through functional breathwork for persons with Parkinson’s and their caregivers, Salisbury District Hospital.

The more learning is shared, the broader its impact. Creating a course to educate others, rolling out a new way of working based on project or research evaluation, cascading learning across multiple teams or organisations, or bringing people together to address a certain issue are all valid ways of sharing learning and educating.

Our finalists are:

• Enhancing mental health awareness and suicide prevention in Parkinson's care, Livewell Southwest, Plymouth.
• The Inpatient Pharmacist-Led Pilot Audit for Parkinson's Medication, NHS, Glasgow.
• Isle of Wight 10-week exercise and education course for newly diagnosed people with Parkinson’s, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

This award celebrates services that put people with Parkinson’s at the heart of everything they do. It recognises those who make sure people with Parkinson’s and their loved ones are involved in shaping and improving services, and their voices are heard, valued and applied.

Our finalists are:

• Smart Speakers and Shared Voices: Co-Creating Speech Therapy Tools with People with Parkinson’s, Ulster University, Belfast.
• The Care of the Elderly Parkinson’s Multi-Disciplinary Clinic: a small, consultant-led clinic, seeing patients both in clinic and at home as members of the York Community Therapy Service. The clinic earned a Silver Award in the National Neurological Patient Experience Survey 2024, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
• The Isle of Wight Parkinson's project, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

This award celebrates outstanding support delivered by people or organisations working outside of statutory health or care. It recognises those who go out of their way to support people with Parkinson’s whilst working collaboratively with colleagues.

• East Suffolk Skylarks, Britten Pears Arts, Saxmundham.
• Sandville Self Help Foundation, Bridge End: This is a unique resource and venue which supports people with life limiting conditions. Every Tuesday is dedicated to people living with Parkinson's and their families.
• Transforming Parkinson’s Care in the Community: Delivering excellence through proactive, person-centred, and compassionate integrated support, Northern Care Alliance.

This award goes to a single winning entry from the categories of Innovation in Practice, Sharing Learning and Education, Mali Jenkins and Community Support. This individual, team or service embodies Parkinson’s excellence and the values of our Excellence Network.

The winner for this category will be announced at the awards ceremony.