Societal Inequalities and Disparities in Pain Management

inequalities in pain managementThe latest Airing Pain Podcast, Societal Inequalities and Disparities in Pain Management, is available now.

This edition investigates the significant inequalities and disparities in treatment among primary care pain management services.
Does gender, ethnicity, disability and locality affect access and quality of pain care?

Listen now.

Taking part in this discussion:

  • Professor Jonathan Hill is the Director of Research for the School of Allied Health Professionals, and a Professor of Physiotherapy, in the Keele School of Medicine;
  • Dr Ama Kissie is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Ghent and a Clinical Psychologist;
  • Dr Whitney Scott is a clinical psychologist who lectures at Kings College London and is the research lead at the INPUT Pain Management Unit at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital.


Read more of this article

Managing children’s chronic non-cancer pain better

Health researchers at the University of Stirling are calling for an overhaul of services for children living with chronic pain.

A new study, led by Dr Emma France and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, found children are often left without effective pain management and struggle to access support from health services.

The research, which was carried out over a three-year period, is the first to specifically look at all the research about how children living with chronic pain and their families are experiencing pain and pain management.…

Read more of this article

Chronic pain: What matters to you?

This research aims to better understand what it means to live with and manage chronic pain, from everyone’s perspective. You now have the opportunity to say what matters to you by participating in this survey.

By answering the questionnaire, you can help overcome some of the current uncertainties and challenges of chronic pain management. Your knowledge will enable the researchers to collaborate closely with patients and patient organizations to develop better care that are meaningful for people living with chronic pain and their families.…

Read more of this article

PCRMM Webinar – Live Well with Pain

PCRMM logoThis compelling webinar will be given by Frances Cole, from Live Well with Pain. In 1996, Frances and colleagues set up the first primary care based pain management programmes in the UK.

The outcomes found people with pain had significantly less anxiety, depression, improved physical health and, most of all, their confidence to cope with their lives despite the pain had doubled.

Frances’ webinar will shed more light on this and explain how they developed the resources and website and what is available for GPs and FCPs to use.…

Read more of this article

Airing Pain podcast episode: mental defeat

Pain Concern has announced their new podcast episode: Warwick Study of Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain.

Airing Pain #134 description:
What is mental defeat and does it have an impact on the experiences of those living with pain?

In this edition of Airing Pain, Paul Evans interviews the team at the Warwick Study of Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain (WITHIN Project) and research participants, as well as taking part in the study as a participant himself. The study, which runs until May 2023, is investigating how mental defeat can influence pain sensation, sleep patterns, social activity, physical activity and the general health of individuals who have chronic pain.…

Read more of this article

Guest blog: How treating my RMD has influenced my hopes for the future

By anonymous writer for the EULAR Edgar Stene Prize essay competition, runner-up in the UK national competition

Pain is not something that anyone wants. Chronic illness will rob so much of a person that often, we are only able to see it as stealing from life. For myself, I will never seek to deny the anguish of the first years of my illness with rheumatoid arthritis. I was a shadow, hiding in the corners and trying to find a way out of myself.…

Read more of this article

Four Nation Strategy for Pain Management

The Faculty of Pain Medicine is pleased to announce the publication of a Four Nation Strategy for Pain Management.

This framework, published 30 June 2022, integrates pain management across other stakeholder sectors of health and social care, and aims to help coordinate, deliver and further develop care using resources and pathways already available. It was developed in response to the changes occurring in health care across all four nations and increasing awareness of the importance of pain management.

A range of patient and professional organisations were involved in the development of this strategy document, including ARMA, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, British Pain Society, British Psychological Society, Burning Nights, Chronic Pain Policy Coalition, Pain Concern, The Patient Voice of the British Pain Society, Physiotherapy Pain Association, Pain Nurse Network, Pelvic Pain Support Network, Royal College of Anaesthetists, and Royal Pharmaceutical Society.…

Read more of this article

Making support for people in pain a reality

Media coverage of MSK conditions and pain is rare. Good coverage even more uncommon. So it was great to see the BBC focus on chronic pain on 11 May. A week earlier, coverage of the NICE draft guidelines on managing arthritis generated headlines such as “Exercise instead of taking painkillers, arthritis sufferers told.” Unsurprisingly this resulted in outcry from those who rely on pain medication to manage their arthritis, especially those who really need surgery but are on unacceptably long waiting lists after the pandemic.…

Read more of this article

BMP Grant 2021-2022 is now open for applications

The application period for the third edition of the Brain Mind Pain Grant (2021-2022) started on 30 November 2021 and runs until the end of March 2022.

The BMP Grant aims to support projects that will help improve the quality of life of people living with brain, mind, and pain conditions. The theme of the third edition of the BMP Grant is prevention and self-management. It has been decided to narrow the focus to ‘Healthy Sleep for People Living with Brain, Mind and Pain Conditions’.…

Read more of this article