Pain Management Service and Coronavirus
We have now moved most of our outpatient appointments to telephone appointments. Please do not come to the clinic, but make sure that you are available by telephone at the time of your appointment. We will call you as close to your appointment time as possible. We can also offer appointments using video conferencing, over the Internet.
The Pain Management Service have cancelled all of the "face to face" groups that we run until further notice. This is to protect patients and staff. We are now offering groups using video conferencing, over the Internet.
If you need to contact us, you may prefer to email us on painmanagementcentre@nbt.nhs.uk as our phone line can be busy.
For more information on Coronavirus, please visit www.nhs.uk/coronavirus
Pain Management Service focusses on improving the quality of life for people who live with persistent pain
For many people who live with persistent/chronic pain, medical interventions have only provided a small part of the relief that they had hoped for. Sometimes, these medical treatments can cause unhelpful side-effects. For others, they have been told that there is nothing more that can be offered to relieve their pain at this stage. This, understandably, can lead to feelings of frustration, sadness, anger and worry.
The pain spider diagram below shows how pain can affect all areas of life. Pain can affect aspects such as sleep, mobility, social life, work, and energy levels. Once these areas have been affected, the changes in those areas of life can start to worsen the pain itself. Sometimes this is called a "vicious circle". Pain management involves recognising these interactions, and finding different ways to improve all areas of life, even if the pain itself can't be cured.
The pain management service focuses on quality of life – it looks to help improve physical, emotional and social wellbeing in spite of the pain. It is may seem hard to believe that this is possible without medically reducing or curing the pain, but here are some testimonials from people who have completed work with us to give you a better idea of what to expect.