The Acute Pain Service provides education, advice and support to the multi-professional team with regard to the treatment of post-operative and trauma pain. Education and development work is also ongoing regarding the advancement of procedural pain. This service is run through a collaboration of anaesthetic and nursing staff.
The medical lead is a consultant anaesthetist with the nursing team led by a Band 8 matron. Management of acute pain is provided through a combination of techniques including medications, epidurals, local anaesthetic wound infiltration and a variety of nerve blockades supported by non-pharmacological techniques.
An acute pain nurse is available between 9.00am - 5.00pm, Monday to Friday and can be reached by telephone on 01246 512286 and is supported 24-hours, seven days a week through the anaesthetic on call system. The service complies with the good practice in Management of Continual Epidural Analgesia in the Hospital Setting Standards of 2004 and also the Pain Management Service Good Practice Guide 2003.
The Pain Service piloted and led the way in the use of local anaesthetic techniques for those patients with colorectal surgery, helping to reduce their pain and length of stay in the hospital. It also improves the care of those with acute and chronic pain through a collaborative approach to its pain management post-operatively.