Digitised Home Based Care for Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease is the world's fastest-growing neurological condition. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that causes a wide range of movement-related (motor) problems (slowness, stiffness, tremor, balance difficulties) and non-motor problems (disturbances of thinking, memory, perception, mood, bladder, bowels, blood pressure). Even before the pandemic, NHS services were struggling to meet the demand for care. To address this need for support, the investigators have co-designed an innovative digital care pathway, Home Based Care (HBC), with people with Parkinson's (PwP) and care partners (CP) to deliver self-management support and clinical expertise to the patient's home. This pathway is supported by remote monitoring with a wrist-worn sensor and questionnaires. In this study, the investigators will be digitising this pathway so that data from a variety of sources (including the sensor, questionnaires, and patients' health records) can be combined in one place to enable more personalised care and to provide advice to support self-management of symptoms by patients. After the investigators have set up the digitised pathway, its implementation will be evaluated with a group of 120 people with Parkinson's and their care partners and associated healthcare providers through the Plymouth Parkinson's Service. The investigators will examine participants' adoption of and engagement with the patient-facing digital platform over the course of 3 months and gather their feedback about its usability and acceptability. A smaller group of the participants will discuss their experiences in more detail to help pinpoint aspects that work well and those needing adjustment and development. The investigators anticipate that this system will result in improved quality of life and care and increased knowledge and confidence for self-managing symptoms. The results of the study will be used to improve the digitised Home Based Care pathway. People with Parkinson's and care