Airing Pain 21: Opioids and Managing Pain in Remote Areas

How peo­ple in remote areas man­age pain, and when and how to take opioids

This pro­gramme was fund­ed by a grant from Big Lot­tery Fund, Awards for All (Scot­land) and by an edu­ca­tion­al grant from Pfizer.

In this pro­gramme we hear about the chal­lenges fac­ing peo­ple with chron­ic pain in iso­lat­ed parts of the coun­try and how a pain man­age­ment pro­gramme in the High­lands is help­ing such patients. Dr Cathy Stan­nard clears up some of the mis­un­der­stand­ings sur­round­ing opi­oids and explains when they can and can’t help with chron­ic pain and the pos­si­ble side-effects of tak­ing them.

Issues cov­ered in this pro­gramme include: Opi­oids, mobil­i­ty, remote/rural areas, pac­ing, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary, tele-med­i­cine, tele­phone con­sul­ta­tion, high­lands and islands, patient and staff trav­el, small com­mu­ni­ties, health­care net­work, neu­ro­path­ic pain, post-sur­gi­cal pain, can­cer, side effects, opi­oid with­draw­al, mind­ful­ness and breath­ing exercises.

Con­trib­u­tors:

• Jack­ie Mil­burn. Clin­i­cal Nurse Man­ag­er, Chron­ic Pain Ser­vice, NHS Highland
• Dr John Macleod, Con­sul­tant Anaes­thetist, NHS Highland
• Dr Cathy Stan­nard, Con­sul­tant in Pain Med­i­cine, Fren­chay Hos­pi­tal, North Bris­tol NHS Trust.