Local MP appointed as Vice-Chair to Parliamentary Group for Parkinson's Disease

6.17.57pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 6th Jun 2008

Mark is working to improve care for Parkinson's sufferers, both locally and in parliament

This week (Tuesday 3rd June) at the inaugural meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Parkinson's disease, Cheadle constituency MP Mark Hunter was appointed as the Liberal Democrat Vice-chair of the group.

Mark's election as a Vice-Chair comes after his regular and close involvement with his local branch of the Parkinson's Disease Society. Mr Hunter is an active supporter of the Stockport branch and was particularly supportive of their recent successful campaign for a dedicated Parkinson's nurse in the Stockport PCT area.

This inaugural meeting also saw the parliamentary launch of the largest ever survey of people with Parkinson's and their carers. The results are published in a new report 'Life with Parkinson's today' which shows that one in five people with Parkinson's are not referred to a specialist for diagnosis and 15% have never been seen by a doctor with specialist knowledge of the condition.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Hunter said "I am incredibly pleased to be involved with the new All Party Parliamentary Group for Parkinson's disease. It is excellent that the this group has been formed to promote greater understanding of the issues facing people living with the condition and to help secure equitable access to relevant high quality health and social care provision for all those affected.

The results of this survey show that there is still a long way to go to improve the lives of people with Parkinson's disease, but the formation of this Parliamentary group together with the local campaigning of Parkinson's Disease branches can really help us to improve access to the medical and social care that Parkinson's disease sufferers need and deserve.

Whilst undoubtedly improvements have been made, much more remains to be done, and I hope that this new pressure in Parliament will convince the Government that this is a problem that cannot be ignored."