Pain self-management service

About this service

The Pain Management Service supports people suffering from acute (short term) pain whilst in hospital or living with chronic pain (long term pain). The service aims to reduce pain where possible, and help people live the best possible life with ongoing pain. 

Chronic pain means long term or persistent pain. This often affects the person’s quality of life both physically, and emotionally.  When pain becomes long term there are lots of complicated changes in the nervous system. Nerve pathways become more sensitive.  We have a multidisciplinary team of Doctors, Nurses, Psychologists and Physiotherapists. We work together to find what might be most useful to each person. 

Knowledge is a key component of living well with pain and we provide comprehensive information about pain conditions and advice on activity, lifestyle and medications. In some circumstances, we can provide interventional treatments. We recognise the impact of life events on experience of pain and strive to deliver both a trauma informed service and timely access for military veterans.

We offer one to one and group appointments and this and can be face to face, telephone or video call appointments. 

Our Pain Self-Management Clinics are run at Sarum House in St Ethelbert Street, Hereford. The team includes a pain management nurse prescriber, physiotherapist, and clinical psychologist and is supported by the Pain Clinic Consultants in Wye Valley NHS Trust and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust.  

For more information about managing persistent pain

• My Live Well with Pain, which includes Ten footsteps to living well with pain
  
  
• Flippin Pain 
  
  

If you want to come to see us in the Pain Management Service you need a referral from your GP or hospital specialist. Contact number: 07816124170

Email: wvt.painmanagement@nhs.net

I’ve been referred to the Pain Self-Management Service. What’s going to happen next? 

The first step is to meet with you. We can discuss your pain problem and make a plan together.  

Common goals 

• Meet other people who understand what it is like to live with long term pain 

• Understand the pain and why it becomes long-term 

• Learn new ways of managing everyday activities 

• Improve balance, fitness, strength and flexibility 

• Make better use of medication 

• Communicate more clearly about pain 

• Learn skills for coping with the sadness, worry or anger associated with chronic pain 

• Prepare a plan for times when pain flares up 

• Manage work issues 

You have three main options   

1. Pain Self-Management Programme 

These group programmes are currently run over a video platform which you can access with a laptop, tablet or smartphone from home.  The course has eight weekly sessions, each lasting around 2.5 hours.  There is a mix of information, group discussion, and a chance to compare experiences with others with pain. You can find out what other people have said about attending an NHS Pain Management Programme 

2. Mindfulness for pain programme

These group programmes are currently run over a video platform which you can access with a laptop, tablet or smartphone from home.  The course has eight weekly sessions, each lasting around 2.5 hours.  Our course is based on the book Mindfulness for Health by Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman. If you want to find out more about mindfulness please visit our mindfulness page

3. 1:1 appointments 

Some people choose to have a few one-to-one sessions with a member of our team.  This is usually when a person wants to focus on a particular issue, for example, meeting with the nurse to discuss how to manage their medication more effectively. We may send you a Pain Plan workbook through the post and give you some support in choosing goals to suit you.