The Pain Medicine Unit at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust provides a comprehensive pain management service for adults with acute and chronic (persistent) pain. We are a multi-disciplinary team consisting of specialist doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and psychologists. We provide inpatient acute pain service as well as the outpatient chronic pain management and have recently helped establish the Community Integrated Pain Assessment and Spinal Service (IPASS).
We treat a wide range of chronic pain conditions affecting all areas of the body, e.g. neuropathic (or nerve) pain, chronic regional pain syndrome, back pain, scar pain, phantom pain and complex abdominal and pelvic pain, facial pain, headache, post shingles pain and post-surgical nerve damage pain and fibromyalgia.
The team offers advice, evidence based pain treatment and support to patients referred for specialist pain treatment from all specialities. Pain management services include:
Alongside this we offer specialist physiotherapy and psychology support, both on a one-to-one basis, and also through our outpatient pain management group programme. In addition there is a Mindfulness group programme for living with pain.
We also see certain patients with more complex psychological issues as part of a multidisciplinary assessment with the psychologist and physiotherapist.
The chronic pain service is able to offer clinic appointments at:
The Royal Berkshire Hospital – Tuesdays and Thursdays all day
Townlands Memorial Hospital – Wednesday AM
West Berkshire Community Hospital, Thatcham - Friday once a month
The Bracknell Healthspace – Wednesdays and Thursdays once a month
Day case treatments requiring x-ray guidance will be offered at The Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading.
Park in the main multi-storey car park and exit on level 2. Follow the signs labelled 'all wards and departments' and turn left once you reach the Welcome Desk. Continue along the corridor to South Block, and take a left after the League of Friend's Tea Bar. The Pain Clinic is on your left before the endoscopy entrance.
Consultants: Deepak Ravindran, Ivan Ramos-Galvez, Husham Alshather
Psychologists: Sarah Lack, Sharon Pocock and Ranjeeta Khalsa
Physiotherapist: Renato Silva
Matron: Shirley McGrath
Acute Pain Nurses: Elaine Blay, Kayleigh Sloman, Nurgul Gurleyen, Paula Nash
Pain Healthcare Assistant: Amber Higgs
Outpatients Sister: Carmel Russell
Secretary: Amanda Large
Waiting list officer: Yuan Tao
Reception: Diane Flynn
Mobile phones allowed: No
Wheelchair access: Yes
At their first consultation, all patients are seen by a pain specialist. Patients should bring with them their list of medication. If further treatments are decided at this consultation, patients will be given the appropriate information leaflets about what they may need to bring on a future occasion.
Refreshment points
ATM machine
http://www.britishpainsociety.org/ British Pain society. This website provides valuable information for patients with pain conditions, and details of various support groups, including guidance.
http://www.iasp-pain.org/ IASP
http://www.action-on-pain.co.uk/ Action on pain
http://www.backcare.org.uk/ Back care
http://www.fibromyalgia-associationuk.org/ Fibromyalgia UK
http://www.bodyinmind.org/ Latest advances in Neuroscience
http://painconcern.org.uk/ Pain concern website. It provides support for those with pain and their carers, and has factsheets and leaflets on different aspects of chronic pain and self-management. It also contains Airing Pain, a series of regular podcasts on living with pain, which can be downloaded for free.
http://www.aci.health.nsw.gov.au/chronic-pain This is a valuable and recent resource sponsored by the New South Wales Government of Australia for their population. However the videos and content are quite easily generalizable for most populations.
Pain Management Unit
Level 2, South Block
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Craven Road
Reading RG1 5AN
Tel: 0118 322 8261
Fax: 0118 322 8262