Emma Edwards
Parkinson’s Specialist Nurse, Livewell Southwest
Emma has worked in the mental health arena since 1993 and qualified as a mental health nurse in 1997. She has worked on a range of psychiatric intensive care units and dementia care wards in Cornwall and Cheltenham as a staff nurse and then a charge nurse. She then worked for a few years running a Nursing Home in Bude, before taking up a post as community Parkinson’s Specialist Nurse in 2010.
Emma has enjoyed teaching on the Southwest Parkinson’s degree module, Advanced practitioner modules, various conferences and local teaching for her employers. In 2019, she took up a post in Plymouth as a Community Parkinson’s nurse and redesigned the service to incorporate changes brought about by the pandemic and the introduction of Home based using digital technology. She has been an independent prescriber since 2015.
In 2022, following the death of a patient to suicide, Emma took a secondment to the Suicide prevention department to find out more about this subject and how it relates to Parkinson’s. She returned to her Parkinson’s nurse role in 2024 and has taught on the subject to Parkinson’s teams across the country. She is currently involved in work concentrating on improving mental health pathways in Neurology.
Supporting The Person with Parkinson’s – The Importance Of A Person Centred Approach
Saturday Sep 20th: Main Theatre
11:30 – 12:10
Despite medical and diagnostic advances, many questions remain about how Parkinson’s presents, progresses, and why it affects individuals so differently. In this session, the lived experience of Rachel who lives with Parkinson’s, will be shared through a personal account of early signs and symptoms. Parkinson’s Specialist Nurse Emma Edwards, a highly regarded clinician within Parkinson’s care and mental health, will then explore what is currently known — and still unknown — about the underlying causes of these symptoms. Drawing on her extensive clinical expertise and current research , Emma will also discuss how professionals can recognise early indicators, provide appropriate signposting, and consider the value of non-medical, person-centred strategies such as movement and exercise.
Three key principles you’ll take away:
✨ How to recognise early indicators of Parkinson’s.
🍲 How to provide appropriate signposting.
💛 The value of non-medical, person-centred strategies such as movement & exercise.
