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The Medway Pain Service offers a range of interventions and therapies for the treatment of pain. There are two main types of pain; acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term). Different methods are used to treat each type.
- Acute pain service providing support to inpatient services particularly after surgery
- Chronic pain outpatient programmes to help reduce the distress and disability of chronic pain by providing people with ways of coping with the problems caused by chronic pain and day surgery procedures
Acute pain service
The acute pain service is provided by a consultant anaesthetist and two acute pain nurses. They treat pain after procedures, operations or trauma, e.g. cuts, broken bones, medical procedures and short-term back problems.
The service aims to provide excellent and evidence-based pain relief such as patient controlled analgesia, epidural and regional analgesia for patients after major surgery. In addition, the acute pain service is available to hospital specialities for advice or referral in order to optimise pain relief.
Our team undertakes daily ward rounds to review patients and analgesic regimes – this also provides education and training for all healthcare practitioners. The acute pain service works in close collaboration with other services in the hospital including the chronic pain team and the palliative care team.
Chronic pain outpatient clinic
Chronic pain is a significant cause of suffering in the UK. Pain becomes chronic when it has lasted more than six months and when it significantly affects your home or work life.
Patients with chronic pain conditions can be referred to the chronic pain clinic. Referrals have to be made by the patient’s GP or one of the hospital consultants.
The chronic pain clinic is a busy service with three consultants. Treatments offered include education, advice, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), medication, acupuncture, nerve blocks and external neuromodulation.
Medway’s Pain Services will accept adults (18 years and over) with chronic pain (over three months) that is refractory to standard analgesia.
Access to this service can be via GP, consultant or Clinical Assessment Service referral.
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