Dr Foster Health celebrates first birthday with new audit tie-up to improve NHS pain services

Dr Foster Research and the British Pain Society have joined forces to carry out the first ever comprehensive audit of NHS clinical pain management services to benchmark quality and level of provision.

The cost to the NHS of chronic (long-term) back pain alone is estimated to be £12.3bn ⁽¹⁾, but the wider impacts across all medical conditions where chronic pain is a dominant feature, such as cancer or trauma, would see this figure rise much higher.

The three-year project has the backing of Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson and will provide nationally agreed standards in pain management that will benefit the 7.8 million people ⁽¹⁾ in England who live with chronic pain.

Donaldson said in his 2008 Annual Report: "...Although we now have effective means of tackling pain and its consequences, services have not kept up with demand...Pain services are very thinly spread around the country. The design and level of integration varies widely.

"There is approximately one full-time pain specialist for a quarter of a million people in the UK...it is unsurprising that services around the country feel overwhelmed by referrals and are unable to cope with the workload," added Donaldson.

The Audit was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) which is led by a consortium of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Royal College of Nursing and National Voices. HQIP promotes better health services by supporting quality improvement endeavours.

Nation Pain Audit objectives:

• Identify all providers of pain management services at all levels of care - from GPs and physiotherapists to hospital-based consultants
• Develop and deliver a pilot stage in early 2010
• Roll out an online data collection tool to primary and secondary care providers in late 2010
• Agree national standards on pain management and identify best-practice
• Reveal gaps in service provision and improve the quality of patient care

Information for clinicians:

The success of the National Pain Audit depends on the expertise and enthusiasm of medical staff working in the Pain Management specialty. If you are interested in becoming a pilot site for the first stage of the audit and would like more information on the autumn 2010 launch email National Pain Audit.

Pain in the UK Facts & Figures ⁽¹⁾:

• People living with chronic pain: 7.8 million
• Money spent on prescriptions for pain: £584 million
• Women suffering with chronic pelvic pain: 1 million
• Adults suffering with chronic back pain per year: 1.6 million
• Patients with chronic pain experiencing depression: 49%
• Chronic pain sufferers who lose their jobs: 25%
• Pain sufferers who feel their chronic pain is so bad that they sometimes want to die: 16%
• One pain specialist for 32,000 people in pain

Find information and support about chronic pain:

• British Pain Society (BPS)
• Chronic Pain Policy Coalition (CPPC)
• Pain Concern
• Pain Relief Foundation