Minister for Public Health and Women's Health, Jenni Minto MSP, visited Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline earlier this week to hear more about NHS Fife’s groundbreaking ‘Pain Talking’ programme.
Chronic or persistent pain is known to affect at least 1 in 5 adults in Scotland although recent evidence suggests that the true figure may be more than a third. The medicines used in the treatment of chronic or persistent pain, while effective for some people, can come with side effects. Longer-term use can also lead to dependence and increase the risk of overdose.
‘Pain Talking’ aims to reduce the unnecessary use of pain medicines and promotes alternatives to medicines to help manage chronic pain, enabling patients to take greater control in how they manage their condition.
During the visit, Ms Minto MSP met Debs Steven, Lead Pharmacist for Pain Management, who led the programme and with staff in NHS Fife’s Pain Management Service, to learn more about how the programme was developed and the drivers behind the change in approach. The prescribing of pain medicines in Fife has been consistently above the Scottish average, and so NHS Fife worked with its partners, and with patients who had lived experience of chronic and persistent pain to reduce the unnecessary prescribing of these medicines and promote alternatives to medicines.
The minister met with patient representatives Charlie Marshall and Suzie Morley, who themselves experience chronic pain and were heavily involved with developing the ‘Pain Talking’ programme. Specialist Pain Physiotherapist, Laura O'Brien, also provided insight into NHS Fife’s pioneering use of virtual reality headsets to help encourage movement to increase mobility and support better pain management.
To learn more about the ‘Pain Talking’ programme in Fife, visit the website – www.nhsfife.org/paintalking. The website provides a range of information for patients and carers and includes testimonies from patients who have already embraced alternatives to medicines to help manage their pain.
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