PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Parkinson’s: Patient Care in Newcastle-under-Lyme - 11 February 2025 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

I welcome the Minister to her place.

I thank my hon. Friend for his continued support for people with Parkinson’s disease, a condition that I know is close to his family. This Government inherited long waits for neurology services, with only 53.4% of patients, including those with Parkinson’s, waiting less than 18 weeks for a referral in June. Our elective reform plan will free up over 1 million appointments each year for those who really need them, including patients with Parkinson’s, and NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme continues to work with 27 specialised centres in England, including at University Hospitals of North Midlands.

I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and his constituent to discuss all of those matters of concern—I look forward to doing so as soon as my diary will allow.

The eyes are not only the windows to the soul, but a window to our health. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the team at Moorfields eye hospital who, alongside a team at University College London, have done some work on a simple retinal scan that can detect Parkinson’s disease seven years prior to any symptoms. Does the Minister agree that optometry, eye care and eye health should be at the forefront of NHS England’s plan for integrated care, and that we should bring forward a national eye health strategy?

Yes, I would be more than happy to support that. That is part and parcel of this Government’s aim to shift the NHS from hospitals to community.