Royal Surrey Develops Pain Management Services

The Royal Surrey County Hospital is launching new pain management clinics for patients.  The new services will be opening in April at Cranleigh, Farnham, Haslemere and Woking. 

In line with the Department of Health's vision of bringing "Care Closer to Home", launched in summer 2008, the Royal Surrey has taken active measures to make its pain management services more accessible.  The new clinics will offer patients the opportunity to have specialist care provided by the Royal Surrey at a local community hospital.  The Royal Surrey also has plans to provide cancer pain management clinics at the St Luke's Cancer Centre here at the hospital and at hospices in the community.

The new clinics come at a time when pain management has been highlighted in the latest Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) Annual Report, which was published on the 16^th March, as an area of health care that needs a major overhaul because "chronic pain reduces quality of life more than almost any other condition".

The Royal Surrey County Hospital's Pain Management Team has undergone some major developments since the beginning of 2009; there have been two new consultants appointed to join the team and an innovative, new approach introduced into the hospital's pain management programme.

The new approach to treating persistent pain is called the bio-psycho-social technique. This involves giving the patient more control and ownership of their pain management. It also aims to tailor the patient's care to all aspects of their pain, and deals with the way that their condition impacts on their whole way of life, not just the discomfort that they suffer. 

Dr Allister Dow, one of the new consultants in Pain Management at the Royal Surrey, said:

"Undertaking this new approach requires a multi-disciplinary team and we are in the process of appointing a further specialist chronic pain nurse, physiotherapist and psychologist.  The specialist team will work together with the pain management consultants to plan the best course of treatment to suit the patients' individual needs.

"We are also liaising with GPs to ensure that patients know about the types of treatments available for their condition and where they can go to receive our pain services.  The launch of the new clinics means that we really can bring care closer to home for our patients.

"These developments within the pain management department at the Royal Surrey have been very much focused around providing our patients with a truly 21^st century pain service. "

For further information about Royal Surrey pain management services please call the department on: 01483 571122 ext 4423