Pain management - University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust

Inpatient services

Our in-patient pain service helps our patients recover from operations and manage other types of discomfort.

Our pain management team includes consultant anaesthetists specialising in in-patient pain management, clinical nurse specialists and trainee anaesthetists.

We advise on and manage more difficult cases of inpatient care involving:

complex surgery on high-risk patients
complex patients, i.e. sufferers from acute and chronic pain, cancer pain (until referred to the Macmillan team), opioid dependence or substance misuse
prevention of chronic pain by good acute pain management
recognition and early treatment of neuropathic pain
non-surgical patients, i.e. medicine, obstetrics, ITU/HDU
specific vulnerable groups: the elderly, pregnancy, children, patients with liver and renal problems

We also promote competent practice by providing clinical guidelines and regular teaching sessions for staff.

Outpatient services

Do you feel you could manage daily life better? Would you like feel more able to deal with the stresses of living with pain ? Our pain management programme may help improve your quality of life.

Our pain management programme which takes place at Hove Polyclinic is a group based education course which aims to help you manage your pain more effectively. We use a combination of psychological, physical and practical methods to work on problems of pain, physical difficulties, distress and poor quality of life.

How do we help

Our specialist team includes a phycologist, physiotherapist and specialist nurse. You will help you learn about the basis of chronic pain, how to manage the emotional impact of your pain and how to be active usign pacing and a self guided exercise programme.

The course consists of:

understanding the factors of where pain comes from
activity pacing
graded exercise
management of extreme pain or flare-up pain
medication review
mood management
how to improve sleep
communication
relationships

After you have been to a pain management programme, you should find your pain easier to manage and be able to do more of the things you want to do. You should feel more optimistic and confident about the future despite continuing pain. You should find you need to visit your GP and hospitals less often.

If you are interested in finding out more about our pain management programme, please contact us to reserve a place.

For more information on pain management visit the British pain society website.