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Seventy delegates assembled in Birmingham in February, for the fourth annual BGS PD Section Specialist Meeting.

The evening began with Dr Catherine Dotchin, specialist registrar from North Tyneside, discussing her experiences of conducting a research study in sub-Saharan Africa. She has been establishing the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor in the Hai district of Tanzania, using multiple sampling methods. In between stunning photographs of Africa, Dr Dotchin spoke of the trials and tribulations of research where medical questions may need to be translated through 3 languages and dialects; the terrain makes travel difficult; and the electricity supply is unreliable. Dinner followed, with a chance to catch up and network with colleagues.

The following morning Professor Clare Fowler, Professor of Uro-neurology from the Institute of Neurology, Queen’s Square, conducted an interactive workshop on the management of incontinence in movement disorders. She highlighted the prominence of early erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence in MSA, while PD patients tend to present later in the disease, and with urgency and urinary frequency rather than incontinence. Similarly a high post-micturition residual volume is in keeping with a diagnosis of MSA rather than PD. Professor Fowler highlighted the current trial of intra-vesical Botox injections for PD.

After coffee Professor Ray Chaudhuri, Consultant Neurologist, Kings College and Lewisham Hospitals, delivered a second interactive workshop, this time on sleep disorders. With the aid of videos he was able to show us a variety of sleep disorders including periodic limb movements, restless legs syndrome, painful leg and moving toes, REM behaviour disorder and sleep apnoea syndrome. Professor Chaudhuri discussed the assessment tools used for sleep issues and how best to manage these patients.

In the last session of the morning, Dr Peter Fletcher, consultant geriatrician and undergraduate dean for Gloucester at the University of Bristol, discussed sub-specialisation within geriatric medicine and the impact that MMC and PMETB might have on training in the future. He raised the issue of improving the knowledge base of non-specialists and the need for contextualised knowledge within SpR training, using adult learning principles and high quality supervision. Just before lunch, Dr Dorothy Robertson advertised the 12th conference in the series, ‘Multi-disciplinary care in Parkinson’s disease and Parkinsonism – from science to practice’ to be held on 4th July 2007 at the Royal College of Physicians. The meeting this year will focus on what’s new in multidisciplinary care and provide updates on PD related research, new clinical resources and service/training initiatives. Further information is available on www.mepltd.co.uk.

After lunch Dr Ira Leroi, consultant old age psychiatrist and senior research fellow in PD from Manchester led our last interactive work shop, on psychiatric problems in PD. Using a series of cases she took us through depression, psychosis, dementia and impulsivity behaviour, usefully outlining the major features and ways to optimise assessment and treatment of these patients.

After tea, Dr Richard Walker, cConsultant geriatrician from North Tyneside, gave an update on DeNDRoN, the UKCRN dementia and neuro-degenerative diseases research network. He outlined the rationale and structure of the network, and that PDMED and PD GEN have been adopted by the network, which should facilitate recruitment to these trials. Further information is available on the website www.dendron.org.uk.

During the meeting, 13 posters were on display and generated much discussion during the refreshment breaks. In the final session, seven poster authors presented their work orally, and the audience voted for the winner of a bottle of champagne. Dr Ed Jones presented a survey of SpRs’ experience of training in PD; Dr Colin Borland presented the development of a new drug chart in response to inpatient delays in medication; Dr Suzy Thomson presented an audit of healthcare staff’s awareness of PDNS availability, Dr Vicky Henstridge presented a survey of GP expectations of the Wirral PD service; Dr Sandip Raha presented the prevalence of neuro-psychiatric symptoms in his patients; Dr Deb presented a comparison of PD patients in care homes in two areas of eastern England; and Dr Rekha Ramanath presented an audit of accuracy of diagnosis of PD. Thanks to the enthusiasm of these presenters a second round of voting was required but Vicky Henstridge just pipped Dr Deb to the champagne.

Thanks are due to GSK and GE Healthcare who kindly sponsored the meeting with an unrestricted educational grant, and to Julie and Rhonda from the Turner Agency who organised the meeting. BGS members who may be interested in the PD section are warmly invited to access our website and contact details from the main BGS website.

Helen Roberts