Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

It was a privilege to attend a breakfast event this morning hosted by Parkinson's Australia to mark the launch of the Deloitte report titled Living with Parkinson's disease: an updated economic analysis 2014. It was very moving to listen to Bettina Clayton-Greene, an extraordinary woman and former registered nurse, about her experience of living with Parkinson's. Parkinson's affects nearly 70,000 Australians. It is the most common major-movement disorder and is second only to dementia in terms of neurodegenerative conditions. Thirty-two new cases are diagnosed every day and approximately 12,000 people will be diagnosed in the course of this year.

One of the issues that has been raised is the value of having more nurses with specific training in caring for people with Parkinson's. This would make a significant difference to the quality of care in hospitals, aged-care facilities and in the home. I am glad to say that Western Australia took an important step in this direction in 1998 by establishing a team of Parkinson's nurse specialists. This public health service innovation was the first of its kind in Australia, and the current team of eight Parkinson's nurse specialists do vital work in making home visits in both the metropolitan area and in the South West. It is now regarded as a best practice model, and I would hope it can be expanded and widened in scope to cover other parts of Australia.

I am very grateful to Parkinson's Australia for their work in gathering evidence to guide Australia's approach to better caring for those with Parkinson's disease, for advocating the kinds of programs and measures that will make a difference in the lives of those affected and their families, and for promoting research into this terrible disease.

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