Chronic pain is the term given to any pain which has persisted for more than three months or persisted for longer than would normally be expected for a given cause.

We provide a service for people experiencing any type of pain which has proved difficult to manage. The most common pains are due to muscle, bone or joint problems, particularly back and neck pain, including whiplash injury.

Many people are referred to us because of pain specifically associated with nerve injury due to trauma or other disease processes such as multiple sclerosis, and two of our consultants have a special interest in this area of pain management.

Other people are referred because of persistent pain after surgery, or because of pelvic or abdominal pain. Because of the large hepato-biliary service (liver, gall bladder and bile ducts) we have developed a lot of experience with the management of pain in chronic pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas).

People suffering from cancer of various stages are also referred to us, to deal with the pain from the cancer itself, as well as some of the pains that are left as a result of the treatment for cancer.

Finally, many people are referred to us because a cause for their pain has not been found, nor a diagnosis for their condition, which includes a lot of facial pain and abdominal pain. Thus we have referrals from general practitioners, hospital doctors and dental practitioners.