Pain management

Pain management services at the Royal Free London

Pain can take a number of forms, from short-term acute pain after surgery, to long-term chronic, persistent pain.

Long term pain can have many different causes for example arthritis of the joints; nerve entrapment, irritation or damage; widespread pain such as fibromyalgia; pain in scars after surgery. In some cases, we are unable to pinpoint exactly what is causing a patient's pain, despite the fact that the patient continues to suffer. 

The pain management service at the Royal Free London is a large and multi-disciplinary service, offering a whole spectrum of approaches to reducing pain and improving the lives of people with long-term pain problems. It also provides an in-patient pain management service to all patients in the hospital in pain including post-operative pain and any other non-surgical pain problem.

Our philosophy is to bring 'whole person care' to each patient, thinking of mind and body as a whole, so as to best help people with their pain difficulties and problems. It is for this whole person, multi-disciplinary way of working, that our unit has developed an excellent reputation among local doctors, patients and others, over the last 14 years.

Where we provide pain management services

Our pain management out-patient clinics currently run at Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital.

Our in-patient pain management service runs at Edgware Community Hospital.

To ensure we are able to provide the best quality of care and experience to patients, we are working to bring our multi-disciplinary team closer together to provide pain management services at Edgware Community Hospital. Patients who are usually seen in one of our other out-patient clinics may be seen at Edgware for their next appointment – please note, you will continue to be under the care of the same consultant.

Services provided

Pain management services include:

• Full assessment of your pain and its effect on quality of life
• Review of previous investigations
• Full discussion of the diagnosis
• Development of a treatment plan
• Educating patients about pain management 
• Medication management
• Interventional pain procedures, for example infusions, injections for pain relief, facet joint blocks and denervation
• Physiotherapy treatment focussing on reducing pain where possible and increasing function and quality of life
• Psychological assessment and therapy looking at the impact of the pain on the person as a whole, with a view to helping them to find different strategies for managing their situation
• Nurse-led clinics to support the patient, particularly in managing medications, reviewing outcomes from procedures and providing ongoing support
• Physiotherapy-led groups to increase patients' confidence in movement and managing pain
• Group pain management programs​

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Referral details

We accept referrals from GPs and services within our hospitals. GP referrals are encouraged through the choose and book system.