Pain Management Department

We recognise that pain can have a big impact on people’s lives, affecting mobility, sleep, mood, work and relationships. We aim to help our patients with ongoing (persistent) pain to build on self-management, to recover quality of life, despite pain.

Our team are experienced in the assessment and management of a wide range of chronic pain conditions, and are committed to provide a safe, compassionate and supportive environment for our patients and their loved ones.

Patients usually have a diagnosis of chronic pain before being referred to our service. We support each patient by developing a care plan which is personal to their needs. We help patients understand their ongoing pain, factors that may make symptoms worse and steps to reduce flare ups.

Options that may be offered include:

  • Support and advice on self-management, including flare-up management, stress management, mindfulness, managing energy, setting goals around what is important in your life, planning, nutrition, sleep management
  • Specialist advice on the use of medications for treating pain
  • Specialist physiotherapy
  • Specialist psychology
  • Pain Management Programme (PMP)
  • Diagnostic and therapeutic injections, when indicated


We receive referrals from GPs (primary care providers) and other specialists.

Self-management

Self-management has been recognised to help with coping with all long-term conditions, including chronic pain.

We want to explore how you are currently managing your pain, what helps you cope with pain and identify new ways to deal with your pain. Whilst chronic pain cannot be cured, there are techniques and new skills to learn (with support) to maintain quality of life and build on your helpful self-management skills.  


Self-management may include: 

  • Baseline self-care – including nutrition, hydration, activities daily living.
  • Monitoring your mental health, adding activities into your life that will improve your mood.
  • Accessing and engaging with psychotherapies.
  • Gentle low impact regular movement, accessing community groups / leisure centre programmes, e.g. Tai Chi, yoga, Live Well Scheme.
  • Finding ways to relax, exploring relaxation techniques / mindfulness.
  • Pacing: managing fatigue and energy levels.
  • Flare up management – avoiding boom and bust!
  • Values based goals, putting joy back in your diary.
  • Sleep - exploring your pre-bed routines.
  • Socialising - to help potential isolation from chronic pain, accessing groups.

Advice on self-management can be given on a one-to-one basis or in a group environment (our Pain Management Programme (PMP).

Pain Management Programme (PMP)

Our Pain Management Programme (PMP) is a group programme. It has been designed to help patients build positive coping skills and support recovery and management of chronic pain.

For more information about the programme, please download Pain Management Programme (overview) information leaflet >

The programme is spread over six Wednesday afternoons (1.30pm - 4pm) with a 15 min break. The session is held in the Pain Management Clinic, Royal Derby Hospital.

Interventional techniques in pain management

Interventional pain procedures can provide pain relief, aid diagnosis and enable functional restoration in certain people with persistent pain conditions. They have an established role in pain management to aid rehabilitation.

Interventional pain management techniques range from epidurals, facet injections, to nerve blocks.

All interventional pain management procedures are performed in a theatre suite. To ensure your safety, there will also be a period of monitoring following the procedure in dedicated recovery areas.

It is important that you tell us if you have any new health issues or any new medications have been started since your last appointment with our team. 


Medication review

We assess our patients to ensure they are on the right medication for their pain condition, whilst considering any additional medical problems and medication.

Recommendations from research and guidelines of national and professional bodies (e.g. NICE, the Faculty of Pain Medicine and The British Pain Society) are followed.

Adverse effects with medicines are relatively common and need to be balanced with their effectiveness. Your healthcare professional will talk to you about this.

Medication reviews are part of follow up appointments. In between reviews, patients are advised to discuss their medication with their General Practitioner (GP) or pharmacist.

Useful resources and patient information leaflets

Patient information leaflets

Access patient information leaflets for pain management >


Useful resources

To help you manage your chronic pain, we have put together a list of useful websites, books and videos.

Our team

Pain Medicine Consultant

Our pain management consultants play an essential role in the management of patients with complex pain and are involved with initial assessment and management of many pain conditions.

Pain consultants can advise many different treatments, provide specialist interventional pain treatments to assist chronic pain patients with other supporting treatments (such as medications or physiotherapy) or when these techniques have not been beneficial. Occasionally, pain interventions could be used to help with managing complex cancer pain patients, working alongside Palliative care & oncology colleagues.


Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist

Our physiotherapist team assess the physical impact of pain on your life. Physical activity and movement done in a helpful and informed way can be an effective way to retrain your pain system and allow you to get back to doing the things that are important to you. This may be in relation to work, roles, tasks, leisure activities or simply how to get going again after a period of inactivity or a flare up.

There are many ways to restore activity, strength and fitness. Some of these may be for you to do at home, in a 1:1 physiotherapy session in clinic or in a group setting. Our team can also refer to Occupational therapy and Physiotherapy at Florence Nightingale Community Hospital.


Specialist Pain Psychologists

Living with chronic pain can have a significant impact on all areas of your life, including emotions, which can involve many emotions that are uncomfortable for people, e.g. sadness, grief, anger, frustration, fear, anxiety.

Our Pain Psychologist support patients who find it difficult to accept your chronic pain or have trauma related issues to when your pain began. It is important to note being referred to a psychologist does not mean your pain is not real or that it is “in your mind” – but a psychologist will help you become more aware of this relationship between pain, emotions, cognitions, and behaviours.

Our team can help you build the skills you need to manage difficult emotions, to find ways of managing the pain, so the pain will have less impact on your everyday life.


Nurse Specialist team

Our nurse specialist team assess and review patients with chronic pain conditions, and plan care to support their needs.

The team help patients with aspects of pain, including physical, emotional and social. Nurse specialists will review patient medication and treatment and can make referrals to physiotherapy and psychology (if needed). The team will discuss and advise on self-management techniques, involving advise around managing energy levels, flare-up management, relaxation/mindfulness, nutrition, mental health, adjustments and acceptance.

The nursing team are also involved in assessing and running the 6-week Pain Management Programme (PMP). You can read more about our PMP above.