Pain Management

The Pain Management Service is a busy, dynamic service involving professionals from various disciplines working together to provide management of acute and chronic pain and pain in patients with cancer.

Our aim is that all patients will have access to appropriate pain management strategies to enable them to achieve their optimal quality of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team

The Pain Management Service is based at City Hospital. The team includes:

Dr Atika Kabeer, pain management consultant
Dr Hussein Nagi, pain management consultant
Dr Arasu Rayen, pain management consultant
Ms Fran Hall, clinical nurse specialist

The team also includes specialist pain nurses, consultant anaesthetists, physiotherapists, and junior doctors and student nurses, as part of their training.

Services

Acute Pain Service
This service was set up in 1991 and was the first of its kind in the West Midlands. It is designed to optimise pain control for inpatients. The service includes:

  • Daily ward rounds by a dedicated team of doctors and nurses
  • Prompt treatment of uncontrolled pain
  • Support in the use of morphine pumps (also known as patient-controlled analgesia)
  • Expertise in the use of epidurals
  • Symptom control of patients with pain associated with cancer
  • Pain management techniques for patients with recurring chronic pain conditions that flare up

The service continues at night and over weekends.

Chronic Pain Service
This service was created 30 years ago. Chronic pain can often be a complex problem with patients coming in to hospital with pain that has existed for many months or years. The aim of the chronic pain service assists people in managing their pain to help them improve their quality of life, as it is not always possible to cure chronic pain.

Outpatient clinics
Patients are referred to the outpatients clinic from their GP or consultants in other specialties. A new referral to the chronic pain service may be seen by a number of different specialists, including:

  • Nurse specialists who will ask the patient specific questions about the nature of their pain and advise them of potential treatment options, for example TENS machines.
  • A psychologist who will discuss with the patient how pain is affecting on their day-to-day life and offer advice and strategies on how to cope with pain
  • A physiotherapist who will assess the patient’s mobility and strength, and offer advice on stretches, exercises and activities.
  • A consultant in pain management who will assess the patient’s medication and give advice on analgesics and other treatment, such as nerve blocks.

All of the health professionals involved have a special interest in pain management and work together to provide a comprehensive assessment and treatment plan based on the difficulties that individual patients face.

Diagnostic tests such as X-rays, MRIs and blood tests are not routinely performed as these are usually done prior to your referral and attendance at clinic.

Pain Management Programme
Some patients may benefit from participating in a pain management programme. These programmes give individuals the information and strategies to enable them to manage their own pain more effectively and therefore lead more active and fulfilling lives and maintain their independence, despite the pain. Each patient commits to a 10-week course of weekly sessions lasting 2 and a half hours each. Topics covered in the programme include:

  • Differences between acute and chronic pain
  • Drugs and their use in chronic pain
  • Relaxation techniques and stress management
  • Pacing and how to deal with setbacks
  • Relationships
  • Posture and daily activities
  • Pacing and goal setting
  • Managing anger and frustration
  • Assertiveness

Pain Procedures
Some patients with chronic pain conditions will be suitable for medical intervention that is aimed at reducing the pain signals travelling through certain nerves within the body. These procedures usually involve a needle being positioned at an exact site and local anaesthetic and steroid being injected to bathe the nerve, which calms the pain. These interventions take place in the Birmingham Treatment Centre at City Hospital and are day case procedures only.

Community pain management services
A community outpatient clinic is also held weekly at the Lyng Centre for Health in West Bromwich.

As well as at City Hospital, pain management programmes are offered at the following community locations:

  • YMCA, West Bromwich
  • Haden Hill, Rowley Regis
  • Langley, Oldbury
  • Thimble Mill, Smethwick
  • Swan Pool, Tipton

A pain management programme is also available for those whose first language is Punjabi.

Patient Stories

Please feel free to share your experiences of this service. Please e-mail your views to swbh.comms@nhs.net

Patient Information

Patient information leaflets
Amitriptyline
Duloxetine 
Pain management programme
Psychology services
Pregabalin

Useful websites

Action for ME
www.afme.org.uk

Action on Pain
www.action-on-pain.co.uk

Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA)
www.arma.uk.net

Arthritis Care
www.arthritiscare.org.uk

Arthritis Research Campaign
www.arc.org.uk

BackCare
www.backcare.org.uk

Brain and Spine Foundation
www.brainandspine.org.uk

British Pain Society
www.britishpainsociety.org

Colostomy Association
www.colostomyassociation.org.uk

DIAL UK (disability information)
www.dialuk.info

Disabled Living Foundation
www.dlf.org.uk

Endometriosis SHE Trust
www.shetrust.org.uk

FibroAction
www.fibroaction.org

Fibromyalgia Association UK
www.fibromyalgia-associationuk.org

Fircone – Friends in Retirement
www.firconebirmingham.org.uk

Herpes Viruses Association
www.herpes.org.uk

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Network
www.ibsnetwork.org.uk

Limbless Association
www.limbless-association.org

Lupus UK
www.lupusuk.org.uk

ME Association/ME Connect
www.meassociation.org.uk

Meningitis Research Council
www.meningitis.org

Migraine Action Association
www.migraine.org.uk

Migraine Trust
www.migrainetrust.org

MS Society of GB and Northern Ireland
www.mssociety.org.uk

National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society
www.nass.co.uk

National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease
www.nacc.org.uk

National Endometriosis Society
www.endo.org.uk

National Osteoporosis Society
www.nos.org.uk

National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society
Helpline: 0845 4583969

Pain and Self Care Toolkit
www.paintoolkit.org

Pain Concern
www.painconcern.org.uk

Pain Relief Foundation
www.painrelieffoundation.org.uk

Pelvic Pain Support Network
www.pelvicpain.org.uk

RADAR (Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation)
www.radar.org.uk

RSD UK (reflex sympathy dystrophy information)
www.rsd-crps.co.uk

Shingles Support Society
www.shinglessupport.org

Sickle Cell Society
www.sicklecellsociety.org

Spinal Injuries Association
www.spinal.co.uk

Stroke Association
www.stroke.org.uk

Trigeminal Neuralgia Association UK
www.tna.org.uk

UK Gout Society
www.ukgoutsociety.org

Vulval Pain Society
www.vulvalpainsociety.org

Contacts

Pain Management Clinic – 0121 507 5768

Pain Management Injection Clinic – 0121 507 6296

Consultants:
Dr Atika Kabeer – 0121 507 4344
Dr Hussein Nagi – 0121 507 4344
Dr Arasu Rayen – 0121 507 4344
Ms Fran Hall (clinical nurse specialist) – 0121 507 5605

 

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