Across the globe, there is an increasing prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which has motor and non-motor symptoms such as bradykinesia, cognitive impairment and anxiety, seriously affecting quality of life. 

For people with PD (PwPD), management often entails multidisciplinary care from a range of health professionals, although allied health interventions appear to be underutilised. 

Researchers in New South Wales set out to explore why this is the case. 

Multidisciplinary care for PwPD can include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, social work, psychology and dietetics, all showing benefits in areas such as mobility, speech, mood and activities of daily living. 

However, access to these services can vary greatly depending on multiple factors. 

‘We conducted a qualitative study interviewing PwPD and their care partners about access to allied health: how they found whoever they wanted to see, if they were referred, at what stage in the development of PD they accessed or were referred to it, any barriers they faced and how the care was funded,’ says Cassandra Wong, a physiotherapist and lecturer at Macquarie University. 

In 2023, Cassandra received a Physiotherapy Research Foundation Seeding Grant for her PhD project ‘Charting the course of Parkinson’s disease and referral to allied health: Insights from people with Parkinson’s disease’. 

The study, ‘“It would’ve been nice to know about allied health earlier”: insights from people with Parkinson’s disease’, published in the August 2025 issue of Health Expectations, consisted of a questionnaire, two-stage semi-structured interviews and a structured retrospective chart to track each patient’s journey with PD. 

Eighteen PwPD and five care partners participated in the study, including six participants from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, two of whom required an interpreter. 

The results were classified according to themes outlined in the Levesque model of healthcare access, which conceptualises 10 dimensions of supply and demand across five domains: approachability and ability to perceive; acceptability and ability to seek; availability and accommodation, and ability to reach; affordability and ability to pay; and appropriateness and ability to engage. 

The results showed lots of variation depending on the particular circumstances of the PwPD and their care partners. 

‘Those participants who had received information about a Parkinson’s nurse or who attended the support group were usually more aware of the benefits of physiotherapy and were more willing to seek it. 

'Those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and those who hadn’t received much information and weren’t proactively researching were less likely to be aware. 

‘Some would seek musculoskeletal physiotherapists, who then said they didn’t know that much about PD and weren’t particularly helpful in some cases. 

'But those who were better linked in with networks or who knew more people with PD or were more proactive in researching were more able to find physiotherapists who knew about PD and could give them high quality care. 

‘These participants would go to neurological physiotherapists or practices that specialise in neurological physiotherapy. 

'Often these were recommended by the neurologist or the practice might have had someone visit the support group. 

'Parkinson’s nurses were also linked to clinicians who had that expertise. 

‘There’s increasing evidence that early intervention is beneficial for people with PD, not just when they present with symptoms such as falls. 

'Physios can help with setting up a physical activity or exercise program to ensure that the PwPD are maintaining strength, balance, fitness, gait retraining, all those types of things. 

'Physiotherapy was the most accessed allied health discipline, which is very encouraging.’ 

Given that ease of access (particularly for people in regional areas) to coordinated, multidisciplinary care for PwPD is still a barrier in many parts of Australia, this is one area where improvements are paramount. 

Click here to read the study.