Pain management service delivery implementation plan: progress report

Aim d: Improving services and care

We will invest in pain management services by improving workforce knowledge and skills, enhancing the use of data and research, and developing national standards to deliver more consistent care outcomes for people with chronic pain.

Action 14

Establish a national multidisciplinary Pain Education Group -  a national multidisciplinary Pain Education Group was established. Membership of the group includes staff from primary and secondary healthcare, tertiary education, NES colleagues, third sector colleagues and policy representatives from chronic pain. The work of the group, informed by lived experience such as the HIS gathering views report, can be seen under Actions 3 and 4 outlined above.

Action 15

Deliver new pain management training pathways for specialist and non-specialist healthcare professionals - as one of the early adopters of national credentialling opportunities, discussions have begun with NES colleagues to take forward the development of new pain management training pathways.

Action 16

Work with Public Health Scotland to improve capture and reporting of national data on pain management services - Public Health Scotland produced a report in February 2023 following meetings with NHS Health Board and Pain Management Teams. This report illustrated the structure of pain management services, pathways available to patients and the way chronic pain was reported to identify areas where potential improvements could be made through data collection. The report was shared with health boards. A SLWG was convened in March 2023 to discuss how future data on chronic pain could be collected. The group is currently working on a new data collection format to improve the range of chronic pain data that is currently collated. This data will help identify where improvements can be made to service provision.

Action 17

Gather data through Scottish Heath Survey to improve the planning and delivery of local support for people with chronic pain - the chronic pain policy team met with the Scottish Health Survey Team in April 2023, to include questions on chronic pain in the next edition of the survey. Questions on chronic pain are now included within a chapter in the Scottish Health Survey, which is due to be published in November 2023. The questions included were chosen in collaboration with clinical colleagues and cover frequency and severity of pain. The questions will be included in the survey at appropriate intervals to provide a clear picture of the prevalence and impact of chronic pain in Scotland and how these change over time.

Action 18

Identify shared research priorities across the pain community to enhance care and services - we continue to work closely with NHS Research Scotland’s Pain Division to identify research priorities and liaise with the Chief Scientist Office to identify areas of shared interest.