Airing Pain 135: Pain Management During the Covid-19 Pandemic

This edition of Airing Pain examines the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the relationship between patient and healthcare professional. 

At the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020, the face-to-face consultations between doctors and patients was one of the first casualties. With restrictions relaxed, have we returned to the status quo, or has what was developed at breakneck speed led to new working practices? 

In 2019, just months before Covid-19 became part of our lives, a workshop, ‘Experts by Experience – Working Together in Pain Management Programmes’ explored an innovative approach to pain management in which patients became integral members within the clinical pain team. Has this relationship survived social isolation and lockdowns?

Contributors: 

• Dr Cathy Price, Consultant in Pain Medicine with the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. 
• Dr Nick Ambler of the North Bristol NHS Trust, and people living with chronic pain. 
• Patient-volunteer Primrose Granville, and other people living with chronic pain.

Issues covered in this programme include: 

COVID, self-management of long-term conditions, peer support, communicating pain, community healthcare, patient volunteer, support group, training course, volunteering and workshops. 

Time Stamps: 

1:15 – Dr Cathy Price on delivery rapidly changing from face-to-face to online, having to prioritise vital healthcare, and what didn’t work remotely. 
6:00 – Dr Cathy Price on the barriers the technology can create. 
7:05 – Paul Evans recaps Airing Pain 119 Experts By Experience: Working Together In Pain Management Programmes 
10:10 – Dr Nick Ambler talks on the Experts by Experience: Working Together In Pain Management Programmes Workshop. 
14:12 – Nick on the service user involvement in delivering Pain Management Programmes and what it means for health professionals. 
17:00 – Paul ask Nick how a GP could approach a repeat consultation about pain to create a productive outcome. 
19:55 – How the Covid-19 Pandemic impacted the work of pain clinics. 
22:25 – Paul questions whether post-pandemic approaches to healthcare will revert. 
27:00 – Cathy Price on the positive outcomes of working during a pandemic. 
28:00 – Nick Ambler on the impact of patients being part of the team. 
30:00 – Primrose Granville on her pain management programme experience. 
 

Special Thanks: 

This edition of Airing Pain was possible thanks to support from the British Pain Society and has been funded by grants from the James Weir Foundation, the Hospital Saturday Fund and the Erskine Cunningham Hill Trust.  

More Information: 

• Pain Matters 78: managing pain during the coronavirus pandemic 
• Airing Pain #119 Experts by experience Working Together In Pain Management Programmes 

• Airing Pain 133: How Group Consultations Can Help Long COVID And Other Conditions