No illness can be contained in a vacuum and Parkinson's disease is no exception. Legislation by Governments, awareness and real understanding of this challenging illness by the healthcare professionals, and the change in the demographic profile of our nation will have major implications for the families impacted by this illness.

The population of the world is living longer and with old age there are increasing numbers of chronic neurological illness such as stroke, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's – and yet these people attract scant attention. Parkinson's in the elderly is a common clinical problem. Failure to manage it well results in distress and guilt within a family and expenditure of untargeted resources within the community.

This book examines the diagnosis and the management of Parkinson's in both the UK and USA. The editors are distinguished not only by their expertise in the management of Parkinson's but also well known for their compassion and desire to improve services.

Our elderly population should benefit from the contents of this book and I rejoice that such eminent people have given their time and expertise to contribute to such a worthwhile project.