Information for Health Professional
Finding the right pain management support for your patient can be a challenge.
We’re here to help you.
Our Services
Acute Pain Service
Our Acute Pain Service is an in-patient service, which provides day to day management of acute pain throughout the hospital.
An acute pain ward round is undertaken each weekday morning, the purpose of which is to provide advice on the management of acute pain, to review patients that have received input from the acute pain service and to review all patients who are using patient controlled analgesia and epidural pumps.
Chronic Pain Service
The chronic pain clinic is an outpatient/day-case service for individuals with intractable pain. It is run by a committed team who offer assistance in a variety of areas to help patients improve their quality of life.
We aim to provide timely assessment of patient’s pain and have appointments available via the ‘choose and book’ system, relevant information and access to resources and facilities.
Most importantly the team teach coping strategies which are invaluable to those struggling with the bio/psycho/social difficulties long term pain causes. We run an excellent multi-disciplinary pain management programme.
Pain Management Programme (PMP)
Stockport Pain Managements Services run, at present, 3 pain management programmes a year. Each consists of 9 weeks of 3 hours per week. Pain Management Programmes have a strong evidence base to support their use.
Patients will be referred in by the pain consultant before being assessed for suitability. Exclusion criteria may include:
inability to attend the days of the course
mental health conditions
language barriers
Those who are unable to attend a PMP may be offered a tailored programme of education including online resources.
We also run an electronic pain management programme (ePMP) to maximise access to support and resources.
Condition Specific Resources
Back Pain
STarT Back is a simple to use tool that stratifies back pain into low, medium and high risk.
The majority of low and medium risk patients should be managed in the community. High risk and a proportion of medium risk patients may benefit from specialist, multidisciplinary care at Stockport Pain Management Services.
The NICE guidelines for low back pain and sciatica were recently updated and can be found here.
This patient information leaflet contains useful background teaching plus strengthening exercises.
This video demonstrates how to perform the relevant exercises.
Fibromyalgia
The key to managing fibromyalgia is encouraging patient autonomy. Through education regarding the condition and it’s management patients must learn to put together a package of self-management tools including:
graded exercise
CBT
relaxation techniques
medications
simple techniques such as hot water bottles
We do not recommend repeat referrals as the key is patient self-management in the community.
This leaflet from Fibromyalgia UK is a little outdated but outlines management approaches well.
This article gives a good overview of the pathophysiology and management of functional pain syndromes including fibromyalgia.
Neuropathic Pain
The Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS) is a simple diagnostic tool to identify neuropathic pain.
Neuropathic pain is commonly associated with high levels of distress. We recommend referral to Stockport Pain Management Services for all cases of suspected neuropathic pain.
The NICE guidelines for pharmacological management of neuropathic pain can be found here .
Contact us.
If you would like more information about the services we provide, or would like to refer your patient. Please contact us as below.
SPMS@stockport.nhs.uk
0161 419 5015
Stockport Pain Management Service
Stepping Hill Hospital, Poplar Drive, Stockport