We understand that living with long-term pain can be challenging. Pain can affect sleep, mood, movement, work and relationships, and can get in the way of enjoying everyday life. It is common for people to feel frustrated or stuck when pain doesn’t improve in the way they hoped. 

Our team is here to support you. While we can’t always take pain away completely, we work together to help you find ways to make life easier and more fulfilling. By drawing on the skills of our doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists, and nurses, we aim to give you a range of strategies and treatments that can reduce the impact of pain and help you feel more in control of life. 

You can find more details below about the different types of support we offer and how they might help you. 

Multidisciplinary help and support with persistent pain 

The assessment appointment (which may be face-to-face, by telephone or video call) enables us to consider how pain is affecting you to develop the most appropriate intervention plan for managing it. You may be asked to complete questionnaires to help with the assessment. 

The assessment may cover:

  • History of pain and its effect on function, wellbeing and quality of life 
  • Investigations and treatments already received 
  • Medication history 
  • General medical history 

Persistent pain can significantly affect people’s lives, including their activity levels, social interactions, and emotional well-being. Our multidisciplinary team, which includes doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists, and nurses, works with patients to improve their quality of life while living with pain. 

Following your initial assessment, we will make an individualised plan with you on how to proceed, taking into consideration your other medical conditions and circumstances. This may include: 

  • Lifestyle and self-management advice 
  • Further investigations 
  • Referral to another specialist, including our multidisciplinary self-management team 
  • Medication advice 
  • Injections and other procedures 

Patient information leaflets for many of these are available from the Faculty of Pain Medicine website.