Sold out pharmacy network conference explores new horizons
'Innovating care in Parkinson's - the evolving role of pharmacy', the 4th Parkinson's Disease Specialist Pharmacy Network conference, took place in Birmingham on 18 June 2026. Here's a taste of some of the innovative topics covered on the day.
The conference's packed agenda gave 70 delegates from across the pharmacy professions the benefit of hearing about several 'firsts' as well as Bath Consultant Physician Dr Robin Fackrell's keynote on polypharmacy, and pharmacy's role in supporting other established areas.
The first 'pump-primed' pharmacist: Sheridan Court of Swansea Bay University Health Board, shared how her Advanced Parkinson's Pharmacist role has helped improve services at her health board. She explained how the role came to fruition through our pump priming scheme and what it looks like, both at a local level, beginning an in-patient review, and on a national level, as Regional Clinical Lead for South Wales. Read more about Sheridan.
Learning from lived experience
Lived experience speaker, John Coote, powerfully shared his journey of being newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s under the age of 50 and how he navigated his life beyond that, including vital support from his community pharmacist, and looking ahead to the future.
Following John, Parkinson's UK's Newly Diagnosed Programme Lead, Anna Murray, introduced our plans to provide more support to people as soon as they need us. Find out about our newly diagnosed support.
The first UK Parkinson's Audit for in-patient pharmacy results were presented by Katherine French, Head of Service Improvement and Grants at Parkinson's UK. She shared how 72 hospital pharmacy teams took part, giving data on 966 people with Parkinson’s and auditing 41,292 prescribed doses - a brilliant achievement for the first time! See the Audit results.
"It was great to see so many enthusiastic delegates enjoying the presentations and workshops - there was a buzz in the room and from what I could see and hear, lots of networking going on! We learnt so much from the powerful and informed speakers, proving that pharmacy is definitely evolving in its care for people with Parkinson’s - and that the PDSPN is helping to drive this."
Stephanie Bancroft, Chair of the PDSPN
"Women are not small men."
Richelle Flanagan, a dietitian living with Parkinson's, highlighted key findings from the research her organisation, My Moves Matter, has carried out on the impact of Parkinson’s on women’s health. She presented 6 key ways the condition could be better managed for women, ending with her key message: women are not small men and should not be treated as such. Find out more about Richelle's work.
Education was also firmly on the agenda. Mary Carter, Pharmacy Technician and Lead Pharmacy Training Programme Director, and Deborah Thurman, Lead Parkinson’s Disease Specialist Practitioner, highlighted the importance of increased awareness and understanding of Parkinson’s through education across the multidisciplinary team. Mary used her own personal lived experience, presenting case studies of her parents, who both live with Parkinson’s, to demonstrate the vital role pharmacy professionals play in supporting safer and improved care for people living with Parkinson's.
Visit our range of free, online Parkinson's education.
Find out about our Pharmacy professionals Learning Library.
All in all, it was a fantastic event. Thank you to the PDSPN committee and all our wonderful speakers who helped shape the event.