Services and procedures
The Pain Management Service is a Trust-wide service treating people that have long-term or chronic pain, which is pain that lasts longer than three months. Chronic pain may not respond to standard medical treatment and can hugely impact on all aspects of life, potentially leading to significantly reduced activity levels, poor sleep, feeling low and reduced quality of life.
The acute in-patient pain management team is based across at Heartlands, Good hope and Solihull hospitals (HGS), and is made up of clinical Nurse specialists and a consultant in anaesthetics.
Acute pain is described as pain that has been felt for less than three months, for example after injury or operation. This pain usually recovers over time.
Pain is a natural part of the body’s healing process, and whilst we often cannot eliminate pain, we aim to manage it to enable acceptable function.
The acute pain team are an advisory service there to provide support for medical and nursing staff in dealing with patients with complex pain needs with the use of:
- daily ward rounds by a dedicated team of nurses/anaesthetic consultants
- support in the care of patients with acute pain, provide written plans to follow where appropriate.
- support in the use of analgesic devices
- pain management techniques for patients with recurring chronic pain conditions that flare up.
