Most patients with persistent pain can be managed by their GP. The pain service is a hospital-based service which patients are referred to if managing the pain is becoming difficult. A multidisciplinary team supports patients referred to the service.

The team consists of doctors, nurses, and a psychologist. The physiotherapy team specialising in bones, muscle and joints problems and pelvic health also work very closely with the service.

The service has two functions:

• To support people in acute pain to reduce their pain experience and distress – this is an inpatient service supporting patients who have sudden onset pain due to surgery, trauma or other medical condition that has brought them into hospital
• To support people who have developed chronic or persistent pain – much of the management is around self-management so the team provide a holistic assessment with the patient being at the centre of learning to manage their pain. Total pain relief is rarely achievable.

So, the aim of the service is to encourage people to be able to self-manage their condition, reduce the reliance on pain medicine (which may or may not be helping but significant side-effects are being suffered) and reduce the need for people to look for help from their GP or hospital to manage their painful condition.