Parkinsons Disease: Diagnosis, treatment, and research

What is Parkinson’s disease?

Parkinson’s is a disease that affects a person’s nervous system (brain, spinal cord and nerves). This is the part of the body that helps a person move, think and feel. It also regulates ‘automatic’ bodily processes that we do not have to think about, like digestion.

Parkinson’s is a progressive disease, meaning that it gets worse over time. The brain becomes more damaged over the years, making it increasingly difficult to do everyday activities without help.

Diagnosing Parkinson’s disease

There are currently no blood or laboratory tests to diagnose Parkinson’s disease. Instead, a doctor will base a diagnosis on a physical examination and taking a detailed medical history.

Men are slightly more likely than women to get Parkinson’s disease, though it is not known why. The NHS says most people with Parkinson’s start to develop symptoms when they are over 50, but some people can first experience symptoms before the age of 40.The Alzheimer’s Society notes that “around a third of people with Parkinson’s eventually develop dementia”, adding that the “disease that causes Parkinson’s is very similar to the one that causes dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)”.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

The Mayo Clinic in the USA notes that symptoms of Parkinson’s can start slowly and may even be unnoticeable, such as a small tremor in a hand or foot.

Other symptoms can include stiffness and inflexible muscles, slower movement (such as finding it hard to get out of a chair), problems with balance, a loss of automatic movements like blinking and smiling, and speech changes. The latter can include slurring, hesitating before talking and / or speech becoming flat and monotone.

The NHS explains that a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms can accompany Parkinson’s. The particular symptoms, and their progression, will vary from person to person, though they will typically begin on one side of the body before moving to both sides.

Parkinson’s disease does not cause death directly, but it can make people more vulnerable to serious (and life-threatening) infections due to the great strain it places on the body.

Treatments

There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease but there are treatments to help manage and relieve symptoms. These include:

• supportive treatments;
• medication;
• in some cases, brain surgery (known as deep brain simulation surgically implanting a pulse generator into the chest wall, stimulating the part of the brain affected by Parkinson’s which can ease symptoms for some).

More information can be found at:

• Parkinson’s disease – Treatment – NHS
• Treatments and therapies for Parkinson’s | Parkinson’s UK
• Parkinson’s disease | Treatment summaries | BNF | NICE

According to the NHS, advances in treatment for Parkinson’s means that most people with Parkinson’s disease now have a normal or near-normal life expectancy. Treatment may also not be needed during the early stages of the disease when symptoms can be mild.

Research Funding for medical research

Medical research in the UK is funded by both the public and private sector, as well as by charities and non-governmental organisations (sometimes referred to as ‘third sector funding’).

Data on overall public and third sector funding for clinical research is collated by the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC). UKCRC data shows that public sector and third sector bodies spent a total of £247.9 million on ‘neurological’ research in 2022, across 1,873 individual research projects. The UKCRC report does not include information about industry-funded clinical research due a lack of publicly available data.

UKCRC’s ‘neurological’ research category “refers to research conducted directly on the nervous system and the brain – the wiring – which includes neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Dementias”. Its breakdown of spend by funding organisation shows that, in 2022, the charities Parkinson’s UK and Cure Parkinson’s spent £2 million and £0.6 million respectively on research.

In March 2025, the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) announced a collaboration with Parkinson’s UK to “establish a new £10m research centre dedicated to better understanding the causes of Parkinson’s and finding new treatments to prevent, halt, and ultimately find cures for the condition”. The UK DRI and Parkinson’s UK will each invest £5 million over five years to progress research in Parkinson’s.

Government funding

Government funding for medical research is typically channelled through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR – which is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care) and through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI – whose funding comes mainly via the science budget of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology). UKRI is the UK’s national funding agency which brings together the seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England.

In response to a Parliamentary Question (PQ) in December 2024, the government said that it had spent “a total of £79.06 million on research into Parkinson’s disease between the financial years 2019/20 and 2023/24”. It also added that the NIHR invests in infrastructure that supports research into Parkinson’s.

Examples of research projects funded by the NIHR on Parkinson’s can be viewed via its search tool.

Guidelines and policy

In response to a PQ on 5 March 2025, Ashley Dalton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, stated that after diagnosis “most people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care”, and that NHS England commissions specialised care through 27 neurology centres in England. Ashley Dalton also outlined initiatives in England that work to support those with Parkinson’s:

• Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for Neurology
• RightCare Progressive Neurological Toolkit (PDF)
• Neurology Transformation Programme

The DHSC has outlined initiatives in England that work to support service improvement and better care for those with Parkinson’s:

• The Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for Neurology. In September 2021, the NHS published the GIRFT Programme National Speciality Report for Neurology (PDF) which made 26 recommendations to “support the NHS to deliver care more equitably across the country and closer to patients’ homes”.
• The RightCare Progressive Neurological Toolkit (PDF), which provides support and advice for those caring for people with progressive neurological conditions.
• The Neurology Transformation Programme, which is working with integrate care boards (ICBs) to improve integrated care and access to specialist services.

A UK Neuro Forum has also been set up by the DHSC. The government says the Neuro Forum is:

facilitating formal, biannual meetings across the Department, NHS England, devolved governments and health services, and Neurological Alliances of all four nations. The new forum brings key stakeholders together, to share learnings across the system and discuss challenges, best practice examples and potential solutions for improving the care of people with neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease.