What the service does
Who provides the service
How to access the service
Location of service
Opening hours
Useful links
What the service does
The persistent pain service is for people who have been experiencing pain for longer than three months.
We use technological and traditional models to provide an evidence-based, compassionate service focused on the rehabilitation of each individual patient.
We deliver the service in small groups and on a one-to-one basis.
Pain Retrained course
Modern pain medicine works best by using self-management tools.
We have developed an online ‘Pain Retrained’ course. This is an exciting new service that evolved from our successful ‘Lifeskills’ project. The first patients will access this service in September 2020.
This approach brings together the best evidence on pain management to deliver a comprehensive service for our patients.
Topics covered on the ‘Pain Retrained’ course include:
- How chronic pain is different from acute pain
- How stress can impact pain experience
- Simple effective tools to reduce stress
- How regular graded movement can positively influence your experience of life
- How to pace activities
- How to plan for flare-ups
- How medication is not the answer to long-term pain
- How we can use new ways of thinking about pain to facilitate a better quality of life
- How to optimise sleep and how this can benefit you
Who provides the service
The persistent pain team includes:
- consultants in pain medicine
- specialist pain nurses
- clinical psychologists
- physiotherapists
- occupational therapists with a special interest in pain treatment
How to access the service
We need a written referral from one of the following before we can assess you:
- GP
- medical staff working in a hospital
- nurse working in a hospital
- allied health professional working in a hospital
Location of service
The persistent pain service is based in the Tower building at Belfast City Hospital.
Opening hours
Monday to Friday between 9am and 4pm
Useful links
Websites
- The Pain Toolkit
- Pain Concern
- Pain Support
- Pain UK
- Pain Relief Foundation
- Patient
- Patient Voices
- The Patients Association
- Self Management UK
- Arthritis Research UK
- Versus Arthritis
- Healthtalk
- Healthy Living Centre Alliance
- The Sleep Council
- Minding Your Head
- BackCare (National Back Pain Association)
- Fibromyalgia Action UK
- Taoist Tai Chi
Books and other resources
This list of books and resources has been suggested by our patients and clinicians. You should be able to request these from your local library:
- The Pain Toolkit
- Overcoming chronic pain: A self-help guide using cognitive behavioural techniques (Second Edition)
- Explain Pain (Second Edition)
- Manage Your Pain
- Coping Successfully with Pain
- Overcoming Insomnia and Sleep Problems
- Living with Fibromyalgia
- The British Medical Association New Guide to Medicines and Drugs (Eighth Edition)
- Painful Yarns
- Fibromyalgia: Understanding and getting relief from pain that won’t go away
- Living Well with Pain and Illness
- Living Beyond Your Pain: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Ease Chronic Pain
- Perceptions of Pain
- Teach Us to Sit Still: A Sceptic’s Search for Health and Healing
- Headache in the Pelvis: A New Understanding and Treatment for Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes
- The Mindful Way through Depression
- Understanding and Managing Long-term Pain