Chronic Pain Steering Group
In December 2007 we published the Getting to GRIPS
report (Getting Relevant Information on Pain Services). This
report was the result of benchmarking chronic pain services in
partnership with NHS boards, patients and service providers.
As a result of the GRIPS Report, the Scottish Government
accepted the recommendation that chronic pain should be recognised
as a long term condition in its own right. This recommendation
aligned ongoing work on chronic pain with the long term conditions
work programme.
In April 2009 the Scottish Government announced a decision to
appoint Dr. Pete Mackenzie as the lead clinician for chronic pain
in Scotland to provide professional leadership, and take
responsibility for driving forward the GRIPS work.
On 12 May 2009 the inaugural meeting of the newly constituted
Scottish Chronic Pain Steering Group was held.
In May 2011 Dr Steve Gilbert was appointed as the new national
lead clinician for chronic pain for a period of two years.
SIGN Guideline
The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines
Network (SIGN) is developing a guideline on the
Management of Chronic Pain.
SIGN guidelines are evidence-based and seek to make
recommendations on interventions where there is currently doubt
over use or variation in practice throughout Scotland. The
guideline development group will develop a set of key questions
which follow the patient’s journey within this remit. These
questions will then be used to form the basis of a systematic
literature review on which the guideline will be based.
The guideline development group commenced work in
August 2011 and presented its initial findings in an
open consultation meeting on 12th December 2012.
The purpose of the guideline is to
provide recommendations based on current evidence for best practice
in the assessment and management of adults with chronic
non-malignant pain in nonspecialist settings. The remit excludes
treatments delivered in secondary care. A wide range of both
pharmacological and non-pharmacological management strategies are
available for chronic pain.
The challenge is to understand the
extensive published evidence for different treatments and when and
where to use them for the best long term outcomes for the
patient.
Further information is available from the SIGN website,
http://www.sign.ac.uk/.
