2021 UK Parkinson's Excellence Network Awards: the winners

Here are the winners and highly commended services of the 2021 Excellence Network Awards. Find out more, and what made them worthy of their accolades.

The 2021 UK Parkinson's Excellence Network Awards took place on Thursday 28 October 2021. Following 30 exceptional entries and a shortlist of 6 brilliant finalists, delegates from across the UK joined the virtual ceremony to hear the winners, and the highly commended, be announced.

Our hosts for the evening, Parkinson's UK's president Jane Asher and retired headteacher, Terence Manning, who lives with Parkinson's, announced the winners.

Find out more about the Excellence Network Awards.

The winners

Innovation in practice and winner of the Excellence Award

The Parkinson’s Hub: an integrated care pathway for people living with Parkinson’s and frailty  Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, City Health Care Partnership, NHS Hull CCG. Download The Parkinson’s Hub: an integrated care pathway for people living with Parkinson’s and frailty poster (PDF, 692KB).

The multi-disciplinary, integrated team from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, pioneered a unique cross-working with City Health Care Partnership, NHS Hull CCG and was led by Consultant Geriatrician, Thomas Mace.

Designed to be a ‘one stop shop’, the Parkinson’s Hub, an integrated care pathway for people living with Parkinson’s and frailty, was commissioned by the Hull Clinical Commissioning group (CCG) as part of its strategy to address care for people with Parkinson’s. 

The Hub works both proactively and reactively to support people with the condition, their carers and family to live well and reduce emergency hospital admissions. Multi-disciplinary assessments held included general health, nutrition, swallowing, speech issues, oral health, sleep and impulsive compulsive disorder assessments, continence and bowel function and signposting to charities and social care.

Clinical Director of the UK Parkinson’s Excellence Network, Dr Donald Grosset, said:

"This year the quality of entries was exceptional, and I would like to personally congratulate Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, City Health Care Partnership, NHS Hull CCG for a true team effort on their well-deserved success, outstanding feedback and for being at the forefront of pioneering truly innovative Parkinson’s care."

Visit the Hull University Teaching Hospitals website.

Sharing learning and education

Formation and development of the Parkinson’s Disease Specialist Pharmacy Network (PDSPN) to educate and upskill pharmacists and other healthcare professionals in the management of Parkinson's – PDSPN, a national network of NHS pharmacists. Download the Formation and Development of the PDSPN poster (PDF, 1.5MB).

The Parkinson's Disease Specialist Pharmacy Network (PDSPN), is a national network of pharmacists and other relevant professionals. Led by a steering committee of pharmacists from different practices with a shared interest in Parkinson's, the network’s mission is: "Improving the lives of people with Parkinson’s by enabling and inspiring pharmacy teams to play an active role in Parkinson’s management across all clinical settings."

Their inaugural conference in October 2019 was attended by 50 pharmacists and healthcare professionals, and has since grown to 270 UK members. Their next conference will take place in 2022 and plans to widen participation and access to include other healthcare professionals. They plan to host workshops and interactive sessions within the conference, including a discussion on the new primary care networks (PCN) and focusing on education for the new roles that pharmacists and physiotherapists are taking on to improve best practice and facilitate a multidisciplinary team approach. 

Dr Donald Grosset, Clinical Director of the UK Parkinson’s Excellence Network, said:

"This is a truly remarkable network that is at the forefront of exceptional Parkinson’s care, and this award is essential in highlighting and celebrating the achievements of the dedicated pharmacists that run it."

Find out more about the Parkinson's Disease Specialist Pharmacy Network. 

Person-centred care

The development of virtual exercise sessions to help people living with Parkinson’s thrive, the Neuro Heroes way!  Neuro Heroes remote Parkinson's specific exercise sessions, Neuro Heroes, London. Download the Neuro Heroes poster (PDF, 854KB).

Neuro Heroes was founded by two physiotherapists Laura Douglas and Anna Kharin, to give people with neurological conditions an opportunity to get active at home under the guidance of a specialist neurological physiotherapist and motivate people with Parkinson’s in a supportive group setting. 

Using an evidence-based approach, Neuro Heroes created online group exercise sessions, including exercises that ease common difficulties in Parkinson’s and try to slow symptom progression. From first piloting their workout sessions in October 2020, they now have four Parkinson’s exercise sessions a week and a community of ‘Heroes’ whose motivation and weekly goals have shaped its service. People have increased their 1 minute ‘sit -to-stand’ scores by an average of 15 repetitions, and have consistently reduced the number of steps needed to turn, improved functional balance and reduced falls risk. They have also shared their approach and reflections with other specialist teams so the benefits of the project can spread. 

The judges described the project as "a comprehensive and far-reaching project which has been very well thought out, had significant academic input and wide-ranging involvement from stakeholders. It was truly patient-centred. It reflected a translation of evidence into practice."

Visit the Neuro Heroes website.

Highly commended entrants

Innovation in practice

Advance Care Planning in Parkinson's in West Berkshire Parkinson’s Service at Reading, Berkshire, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. Download the Advance Care Planning in Parkinson's in West Berkshire poster (PDF, 1.4MB).

The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust’s specialist care team in West Berkshire developed an ‘Advance Care Planning’ (ACP) pathway for people with Parkinson’s and their families. They completed a retrospective audit to review hospital deaths with Parkinson’s in 2017 and ACP completion. A Neurologist, Parkinson’s Nurse, Geriatrician and Palliative Care lead were engaged to share their views on ACP for Parkinson’s as well as a  GP survey about managing the ‘complex stage’ of the condition. As a result of this work, a Trust guideline for referring Parkinson’s patients for ACP was developed and published. 

Visit the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust website.

Sharing learning and education

Parkinson's Medication - Get it on Time!  Parkinson's Team - Central Lancashire, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Preston. Download the Parkinson's Medication - Get it on Time poster (PDF, 2.8MB).

The staffing team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals in Preston developed an educational initiative aimed at improving the knowledge and understanding of staff within Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust about why medications need to be given on time when people with Parkinson’s enter its hospitals. They conducted an audit, which highlighted a knowledge gap that needed to be addressed and in response, developed two e-learning courses - one for members of staff needing an in-depth knowledge of Parkinson’s medications and another for staff who do not dispense medications.

Visit the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals website. 

Person-centred care

Moving Medicine: new resource to help health care workers support people with Parkinson’s to be active – Moving Medicine, Edinburgh, University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health, Exeter, SEM, North West Training Centre, Manchester. Download the Moving Medicine poster (PDF, 2.9MB).

The Moving Medicine Parkinson's guide was launched on World Parkinson's Day 2021 to help healthcare workers support people with Parkinson’s to be active. Launched in 2018, Moving Medicine provides a range of resources to promote activity as an intervention for both primary prevention and long-term conditions such as Parkinson’s. It is also an initiative by the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine UK (FSEM UK) in partnership with Public Health England (PHE) and Sport England(SE), and aims to improve physical activity conversations across healthcare and support delivering physical activity support for all.

Visit the Moving Medicine website.

If you'd like to get in touch with any of our winners or highly commended entrants, contact the Excellence Network team by emailing [email protected].

View the Awards abstracts

See all of the abstracts entered for the Excellence Network Awards. Abstracts are displayed by category, starting with those shortlisted for stage 2, including their e-posters, and followed by the rest of the abstracts for each category.