World Parkinson’s Day 2026 in Westminster

The MPs and peers learnt about the reality of treatment and support for people with Parkinson’s and committed to join our campaigns to make life better.

What we shared at the drop-in

Parliamentarians, who were invited to the drop-in by over 700 campaigners, talked at length to members of the Parkinson's community about the impact the condition has on their daily lives.

Our supporters also shared our campaign toolkit with parliamentarians, which contains simple actions they can take to help improve Parkinson’s care and services in their area.

The toolkit focuses on a few key areas:

• getting support from diagnosis
• making sure medication is administered on time in hospitals
• securing the necessary NHS specialists for Parkinson's care
• promoting inclusive research.

A particular area of interest for the MPs was Parkinson's Connect, our free online service that allows health professionals to directly refer newly diagnosed people with Parkinson’s to our support services.

Find out more about Parkinson's Connect.

Who attended the event?

Parliamentarians from all 4 nations attended the briefing, along with the largest political parties in Westminster. 

Attendees included Lord David Blunkett, Deputy Speaker of the House Caroline Nokes MP, the Minister for Disabled People Sir Stephen Timms MP, and Mary Glindon MP, the former Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Parkinson’s.

Members of the community at the event included (and pictured above, from left to right): 

• Jonathan Corp
• Emma Lawton
• Vivienne Nock
• John Coote
• Colin Wells
• Dave Clark (former Sky Sports presenter and co-host of the 2 Parkies in a Pod podcast)
• Ann Wells

They all shared their personal experience of living with Parkinson's with MPs, and highlighted our campaigns, the support we provide, and how MPs can take action to support their constituents.

Jonathan Corp, who lives with Parkinson’s, commented: 

"Still being relatively newly diagnosed, meeting MPs and Peers has been the highlight of my Parkinson's journey so far! 

"We need our elected MPs to represent our views to help bring about change, and I felt they genuinely listened.

"Sharing my personal experience, the MPs and Peers were engaging and made individual pledges as to what actions they would support. The day was amazing, and the energy in the room was infectious! I loved it!"

Next steps

After the event, we shared: 

• photos of MPs and peers with members of our community
• messages to share on their social channels to show their support
• Parkinson's statistics for their constituency
• template letters to advocate for better treatments and services in their area.

We’ll continue to follow up with MPs to make sure they take the action they agreed to at the briefing.

Thank you to everyone who invited their MP to attend the briefing. It’s your support that made the session so successful.