237 Designing and implementing a home based care pathway for people with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Healthcare for people with Parkinson’s (PwP) can vary across the UK. With the prediction that numbers will increase by a fifth by 2025, the Parkinson’s specialist team in Plymouth recognised an opportunity to meet the challenge with a service re-design that incorporated patient initiated contact and digital technology.Following a series of workshops facilitated by healthcare design engineers, and attended by PwP, their family, Parkinson’s practitioners, and digital health representatives, various supportive and educational materials were devised to support patient self-management supported by home based monitoring.The main structure and associated materials of the pathway incorporated 3 main themes:Education and support (which includes an initial teaching session, information booklets, symptom tracking cards, and an online social media group for peer support);Clear information on how to initiate a healthcare contact via a dedicated email and telephone hotline;Motor and non-motor symptoms monitored from home via the Parkinson’s KinetigraphTM (PKG) watch and regular completion of validated questionnaires.The first phase of this Health Foundation Innovation project was implemented in Oct 2019 with 10 PwP from Plymouth taking part. A wider roll out of the pathway involving people in East Cornwall, West Devon and Plymouth is taking place in 2020, involving 150 patients. Embedded processes for evaluation and feedback inform continued development and refinement of the pathway.camille.carroll@plymouth.ac.uk