Believe me, I know all about this...
Dad has been diagnosed with parkinsons recently - after a misdiagnosis by his useless GP as lung cancer. Odd I thought, no similar symptoms...but we went with it as he was the expert. See the cancer expert (late, as referal got lost...) who said basically "why are you here? Looks like parkinsons to me - certainly nothing lung cancerlike in your symptoms".
Finally after grief I paid the 400 quid for a private consultant. Excellent, sorted out a DAT scan and put it all through the NHS and then told the GP to refer us to him via NHS. GP lost the letter etc etc. Finally get it all done and yep, scan shows it's parkinsons.
Of course, this has dragged on so many months that dad has turned 60 while it was being diagnosed so now his critical illness cover is saying "well, we do cover parkinsons but only if diagnosed under 60"... grrrr....more fights to come I feel!
Anyway, spending the money and "going private" was a great decision (albeit one we shouldn't have had to do. However, the NHS support at Kings in london has been *excellent* and on par with the private stuff (just with crap coffee :-)). Seems so variable depending on where you come into the system :-(
Darren
Ob-diy: I borrowed his circular saw while I dropped him off from the last hospital visit so I can refit the doors in the dining room :-)