Parkinson's Disease

(asked on 25th April 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all relevant medical health professionals are aware of the different manifestations of Parkinson’s disease in (a) women and (b) men.


Answered by
Ashley Dalton Portrait
Ashley Dalton
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 8th May 2025

Guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on Parkinson’s disease in adults does not make any reference to differences in Parkinson’s symptoms between women and men.

We do know that the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease is higher in men than in women, as prevalence rates for men aged between 50 and 89 years old are more than 1.5 times higher than rates for women in the same age group. This equates to 22 in every 10,000 women and 32 in every 10,000 men diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

NHS England is updating the Neurosciences specialised neurology (adults) service specification, which includes Parkinson’s. The revised service specification also includes an annex which articulates minimum service requirements for both specialised and non-specialised neurology services, including movement disorder services. We are expecting the revised specification and standards to be published later in 2025.

NHS England will publish an Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment alongside the specification. This will summarise the different incidence and impacts of neurological disease on protected characteristic groups, drawing on published evidence as appropriate.

Reticulating Splines