ParkinsonNet Luxembourg, a nationwide network of health professions relating to treatment for Parkinson’s disease, is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year.
Established five years ago, ParkinsonNet Luxembourg began full operations in 2018 with its first multidisciplinary professional training programme. Modelled after the effective Dutch programme founded by Prof. Dr. Bas Bloem from Radboud University Nijmegen, the concept focuses on building an integrated care network for people with Parkinson’s disease at all stages. Through its close link to international research, the network allows its members to benefit from the latest findings and use state of the art treatments during their continuous training.
This anniversary was celebrated on 19 November 2021 at the Residence of the Dutch Ambassador to Luxembourg, Cees Bansema. Researchers, health professionals and representatives of the Ministry of Health, the National Health Fund (Caisse Nationale de la Santé - CNS), the National Research Fund (Fonds National de la Recherche - FNR) and research institutions from Luxembourg, as well as people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, attended the event. Attendees shared their achievements, discussed the status and future developments of ParkinsonNet Luxembourg and celebrated the fruitful collaboration between Luxembourg and the Netherlands in the field of Parkinson’s disease.
Ambassador Cees Bansema praised this successful partnership, noting that through the network, the strong bonds between the Netherlands and Luxembourg continue to be reinforced.
ParkinsonNet Luxembourg promotes patient-centred care by training healthcare providers to identify and address the specific needs of each patient with Parkinson’s disease and by facilitating communication between the different healthcare disciplines around a patient’s individualised treatment.
Research has proven the benefits of ParkinsonNet's approach such, as the significant lowering of diseaserelated complications and even the reduction of costs in the Netherlands' healthcare system. As the current network matches the national effort in establishing skills networks ("réseaux de compétences"), there is significant interest in funding these effective treatments on a national level.
Dr. Jean-Claude Schmit, Luxembourg's Director of Health, congratulated ParkinsonNet for being a pilot in the field in the Grand Duchy and for establishing a mature network. “It is fulfilling the requirements of the ‘réseau de compétences’. Therefore, the Ministry of Health is ready to support and fund this initiative”, he noted.
Christian Oberlé, President of the CNS, who initiated the digitalisation of the health sector, added: “The existing network is a perfect test bed for implementing innovations for digital health”.
Prof. Dr. Rejko Krüger, initiator of ParkinsonNet Luxembourg, explained how the network "sets a new standard in integrated care for complex chronic diseases and benefits from the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals that provides instrumental information for people in the field beyond PD [Parkinson's disease]”.
Mr. Kloos, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021, shared his experiences: “ParkinsonNet helped me a lot. After the diagnosis, I got excellent support by the ParkinsonNet healthcare professionals. Thanks to them, I have a much better understanding of the disease and know how to live with Parkinson’s”.
The lessons learned during ParkinsonNet Luxembourg’s implementation will be extrapolated for planning additional integrated care networks for other chronic diseases, such as strokes, multiple sclerosis and / or inflammatory bowel disease.
“When we supported the National Centre for Excellence in Research on Parkinson’s Disease (NCER-PD) project eight years ago, we didn’t dream of the rapid impact it would have on the patients and on society overall”, noted Dr. Marc Schiltz, Secretary General of the FNR. “NCER-PD was the successful pilot for a new series of NCER programmes that FNR will start in the future”.
As a next step, Prof. Dr. Bas Bloem, the initiator of ParkinsonNet, recommended a scale-up including other neurological diseases.
