ParkinsonNet team visits Luxembourg

Professor Bas Bloem and colleagues from the Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherland, visited Luxembourg on July 19 to present the concept of the Dutch ParkinsonNet that revolutionized the management of a chronic disease like Parkinson’s.

In the morning Professor Bloem presented the development of the ParkinsonNet from its start in 2000 to a country-wide network of health professionals (including neurologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dieticians, nurses) specialized in providing multidisciplinary and integrated care for Parkinson’s disease patients. By now, over 2700 medical and allied health professionals have been trained in accordance with Parkinson’s disease specific guidelines and are collaborating within ParkinsonNet. "During the last 16 years we have not only shown that health care cost could be retained through our integrative approach, but most importantly that the quality of care and therewith quality of life for our patients increased" says Prof Bas Bloem, ParkinsonNet’s Medical Director and consultant neurologist at the Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen. The team has for instance shown that patients receiving integrated care fall less often and hence have less hip fractures, which remain one of the biggest complications in advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. Inspired by the success of this network, other countries have recently adopted the Dutch evidence-based concept: the Duisburg region in Germany and Kaiser Permanente in California (USA), one of US largest not-for-profit health plans, have successfully established a ParkinsonNet, while Norway will follow next. 

In a second talk, Prof Bloem showcased the Parkinson’s research efforts of the Radboud University Medical Centre that makes use of modern technological approaches such as wearable devices, computer games and laser technology to facilitate at home treatments and stimulate the patients interest. This patient-centered research approach characterizes Nijmegen Centre: "We want to develop innovations that do not only help the patients but that are also fun to use. Therefore, we always ask our panel of 200 patients for advice before endeavoring on a project" describes Bloem. Currently, the team is setting up a Parkinson’s patient cohort similar to the Luxembourg Parkinson’s Study and is starting a new project on big data for precision medicine.

Researchers, health professionals and representatives of the Ministry of Health and of Caisse Nationale de la Santé attended the meeting to exchange about the developments in the Netherlands and Luxembourg in health care and research and together discuss the possibilities to establish a ParkinsonNet in the Grand Duchy. "It is an exciting and foremost evidence-based concept with longstanding experience that will help us to translate ongoing research in Luxembourg into immediate benefits for patients" comments Professor Rejko Krüger. "We are proud to be able to collaborate with Professor Bloem and his team and are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration on implementing integrated clinical care and associated research for our patients in Luxembourg."

For further information about ParkinsonNet visit the website

ParkinsonNet introduction video