Establishing and Evaluating a PD Support Network Gillian Carey (1) and Beverly Castleton (1) Dick Curry (2) (1) North Surrey Primary Care Trust (2) The Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London Address for correspondence

Objectives  Patient access to information and assistance  Patient links to their healthcare professionals  To link healthcare professionals to one another

Features of the Website  Bulletin Board (Local events, service update, PD in the news)  Discussion forum (topic specific discussion between patients)  Health enquiries (general health questions from patients)  My PD Nurse (secure area for personal communication between patient and professional)  Professionals Site (secure communication between PD specialists)

Home Page

Bulletin Board

Discussion Forum

Health Enquiries

Nurse’s Office

My PD Nurse

Pilot Phase  Launched September 2004  One year duration  50 patients and carers registered as users  20 health professionals registered as users  User comments “A faster service for personal questions and general enquiries” “Useful to compare problems and ideas with others”

Evaluation Impact on: –Patients and carers –Health professionals –PD Society policy implementation –NHS Policy implementation

Website Address Patient site Health professional’s site

Partners  North Surrey PCT  Medixine  The Parkinson’s Disease Society  Pfizer (Educational Grant)  Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London