April 28th 2006
Madeleine Moon MP Raising Awareness of Parkinson’s Disease
Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon last week joined
forces with the Parkinson’s Disease Society as they launched their Get it on
Time campaign to ensure that people with Parkinson’s get their medication on time.
Mrs Moon held a Westminster Hall Debate in
Parliament on raising awareness of the issue to also coincide with Parkinson’s Awareness Week.
“Following 25 years of work within Health
and Social Services, I find it very difficult to understand how a Charity focusing on a long term degenerative condition should
need to launch a campaign that focuses on patients receiving their medication on time.
“This is not just an issue of patient
choice, but an example of health and social care settings failing to provide basic care, basic rights and basic protection
and quality of life for those with Parkinson’s.
“If someone with the disease is unable
to take their prescribed medication at the right time, the chemical balance in the brain is altered or disrupted and so their
disease can become uncontrollable.
Mrs Moon met with people who suffer from the
disease at a Parliamentary Reception in Westminster organised by the Parkinson’s Disease Society, giving
them an opportunity to meet and lobby their MPs on issues that mattered to them. Those who attended included Alun Morgan,
Chair of the local Parkinson’s Disease Society. (Pictured with Mrs Moon)
“I know that there is no simple reason
why people with Parkinson’s may not get their medication on time. All too often nurses and care staff may not understand
the condition or how important it is to stick to a medication regime. On the whole Hospitals do not allow patients to bring
into hospital the medication that was dispensed at home by their GP and that works for them. The hospital may not then have
the required medication or it may take some time to obtain it.
“The lack of understanding of Parkinson’s
Disease, coupled with the inflexibility of drugs rounds in hospitals and care homes, can have a devastating effect on the
patients functioning.
“Medication on time means independence,
dignity, safety, control, protection – all priorities which have been implemented in the Governments Dignity in Care campaign. Along with medication that is given on time, people with Parkinson’s will be given
dignity.”
