as for too long PD has been "pushed in the corner" especially in England.

For example:

i) Unlike the rest of the UK, in England we still have to pay for PD prescriptions.
ii) DBS (I believe) has still not been cleared as a treatment by NICE but is administered under the "experimental treatment" banner and budget.
iii) YOPD are treated as "second class disabled", certain benefits are just not available to us as they are for the over 60's.

I agree with ECD, we may moan about the NHS but I would take it every day of the week over a private healthcare system.

Funnily enough I too live in a rural area (Evesham, gateway to the Cotswolds don't you know and ideally placed for Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford), however I have been very lucky with access to a fine Neuro. Also I am close to Frenchay, home of the GDNF trial. I agree things are probably best the further south you go.

Don't worry Paula, our NHS is so idiosyncratic that I am sure you are not headed down the same road. The principle of "cradle to grave" public funded healthcare is probably an anathema to the States, higher taxes, more state interference, limiting freedom of choice.

I leave you with a link to the villages of the Cotswolds, best villages in the world in my opinion.

http://www.cotswolds.info/cotswold-pictures.htm

Take care,
Neil.