wrans/answers2025-04-30 conversation_77
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-30 conversation_77

Alison Bennett:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate his Department has made of the average time taken for patients with Parkinson’s disease who are experiencing new symptoms to see a neurologist. \p Ashley Dalton: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidance on Parkinson’s disease in adults sets out the best practice for healthcare professionals in the care, treatment, and support of people with Parkinson’s. It aims to improve the recognition and management of Parkinson’s symptoms. The NICE’s guidance on Parkinson’s disease in adults is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng71

NHS RightCare has also produced a Progressive Neurology Conditions Toolkit. The toolkit sets out the key priorities for increasing knowledge of the signs and symptoms of Parkinson’s and makes suggestions regarding new service models which can be implemented in primary care to speed up referrals to specialists and ensure a timely diagnosis. Additionally, the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology has published a National Speciality Report, which makes several recommendations in relation to reducing waiting for neurology services. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme which has developed a new model of integrated care for neurology services, to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including those with Parkinson’s.

Data on how regularly an average patient with Parkinson’s disease sees a neurologist is not held centrally. NICE guidance recommends that people with Parkinson's should be seen at regular intervals of six to 12 months. While NICE guidance is not mandatory, the Government expects the healthcare system and commissioners to take the guidelines fully into account when designing services for their local population, and to work towards their implementation over time.

Data on the average time taken for patients with Parkinson’s disease to see a neurologist is not held centrally. The latest data for referral to treatment waiting times in England, from February 2025, shows there were under 230,000 pathways waiting for a neurology appointment, 53.7% of which were waiting within 18 weeks.

The NHS Constitution sets out that patients should start consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral for non-urgent conditions. On 6 January 2025, NHS England published the new Elective Reform Plan, which sets out a whole system approach to hitting the 18-week referral to treatment target by the end of this Parliament. We have achieved our pledge to deliver two million extra elective appointments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology. We have made the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the NHS constitutional standard, by March 2029.