Pain management

The Pain Management Service at University Hospitals includes an Inpatient Acute Pain Service and an Outpatient Chronic Pain Clinic. Pain Management encompasses a variety of interventions used to understand and alleviate or ease pain. Pain may be classified as Acute or Chronic.

Acute Pain
Acute Pain is pain of recent onset which is temporary and often has an obvious cause, such as surgery or injury. The management of post-operative pain is recognised as being very important in promoting early and ra​pid recovery from surgery. The role of The Acute Pain Service is to advise ward staff regarding patients' pain management, and supervise the safety of the sophisticated pain relieving techniques which we use.

We provide training and education in Acute Pain Management and the use of specialist pain relieving equipme​nt for all levels of staff. Day to day delivery of the service is provided by two Specialist Acute Pain Nurses who undertake daily ward rounds on the Surgical, Gynaecological, and Elective Orthopaedic wards at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. We understand that the quality of our service is very important to our patients, and therefore continually audit the service we provide which helps us to improve and meet the needs of patients.

Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is pain which persists for a period of three to six months or more. Chronic pain can occur after injury, surgery, with certain medical conditions, or it may develop for no apparent reason. In many cases of chronic pain it is thought that the body's pain system does not work properly and becomes too sensitive, so even sensations like touch can be painful. The Chronic Pain Clinic is an Outpatient service for patients who suffer from persistent pain. The service is provided by a team of four Consultant Anaesthetists who specialise in Pain Medicine with some support from a specialist Physiotherapist.​

Seven clinics are held each week in the Main Outpatient Department at Royal Stoke University Hospital. We offer a thorough assessment and interventions as appropriate. These include advice on self-management, medication, and for selected patients interventional pain procedures including Radiofrequency Denervation, Nerve Blocks and Epidural Steroid Injections which are carried out in the Central Treatment Suite under local anaesthetic as a day case admission.

Infection pr​​evention and control
The prevention and control of infection is very important to us so we use Aseptic techniques in our theatres to ensure our patients are treated and cared for in a safe, clean environment.

Contact the depa​rtment
Secretaries: 01782 679431 or 679430