Parkinson’s Ireland: A Reflection On 2024

Parkinson’s Ireland had a very busy and exciting year. We wanted to take the opportunity to reflect and highlight our achievements this year.

Nursing:

We have hired two additional nurses in the past year to meet the growing demand for our services. We were granted additional funding for our nursing services by the HSE in July 2024.

We set up a new community-based nurse service in Cork. Charlotte Deasy joined us from the NHS, and is now working in this role in County Cork. This development represents a model for the rest of the country and centres around the concept of integrated care in the community.

Awareness:

We ran a very successful awareness campaign during Parkinson’s Awareness Month in April 2024. Titled ‘Different For Everyone’, the campaign highlighted that there are over 40 different symptoms in Parkinson’s and that everyone experiences Parkinson’s differently. This campaign reached a huge number of people over national radio, national print media, Spotify, outdoor advertising and digital media. The campaign was shortlisted for Education Project of the Year at the Irish Healthcare Awards and although we did not win, the feedback we received from the judges was very complimentary and we are eager to improve on this next year.

Branches:

We set up three new branches in 2024: Wicklow, Meath and Monaghan. This means additional local services in these counties, and we are grateful to our volunteers who have made this possible.

Education:

Our Parkinson’s nurses have started working with the Irish Medication Safety Network. This work includes working with the IMSN on updating the safety alerts for Parkinson’s. This is an important project, as getting the correct medication on time in hospitals is a key issue for people with Parkinson’s. We also had a stand at the 1st All-Island Medication Safety Conference on November 28^th and 29th. One of our nurse specialists Lisa Wynne was a guest speaker where she spoke about Parkinson’s Disease. 

Information Services:

We updated our information leaflets which contain information on various aspects of Parkinson’s. Our Parkinson’s Disease (PD) Nurse Specialists Lisa Wynne and Kathy Foley worked extremely hard to re-write each leaflet to provide important information across 24 topics. These include both motor and non-motor symptoms of PD.

Along with the updated leaflets, our PD nurse specialists also developed new topics, which include fatigue, depression & apathy and cognition in PD. We also designed a new booklet for people who are newly diagnosed and are working on a new diet booklet. If you wish to download any of these information leaflets, please click here: Updated Information Leaflets – Parkinson’s Ireland. You can also order physical copies by calling 1800 359359.

Fundraising:

We held our new flagship fundraiser ‘A Walk in The Park for Parkinson’s’ in September across 10 locations around Ireland. In addition to raising vital funds, the event was very successful in raising awareness of Parkinson’s and our services. This event has huge potential to grow in the coming years. We are delighted to have Home Instead as the title sponsor and major supporter of the event.

We also had some very successful voluntary fundraising initiatives. Our presence in the areas of Wills is increasing and this is becoming an important source of funding for us. If you would like more information on wills and legacies, please click here.

Advocacy:

We welcomed the announcement of €2m investment in regional neurology services in 5 hospitals in the recent budget. We campaigned on this issue with our colleagues in the Neurological Alliance of Ireland. Although the investment is welcome, it is vital that the posts associated with this investment are advertised as soon as possible

We also ran an election campaign which highlighted our five asks to the incoming government.

Thank you to our members who supported and shared our campaign and to those who helped us lobby the candidates throughout November.

Thank you!

All of the work that we do is made possible by people who fundraise for us or make a donation, however small; along with the hard work of our team and our volunteers across the country. Parkinson’s Ireland will continue to work hard to provide services and supports for those living with Parkinson’s. We are excited by our future plans and are ready to meet the inevitable challenges that we will face along the way.

We also want to thank each and every person who has supported us this year. Without you, the work we do would not be possible.

We hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.