In this section
About Us
The Manchester Pain Service is an integrated multidisciplinary pain service providing support to patients experiencing a spectrum of acute and chronic pain.
Pain can be a short-term condition that gets better with healing – we call this acute pain; it is normally a result of injury or illness. Our purpose is try to help optimise your pain management during your hospital stay following surgical procedures or trauma when possible. We also provide support and education to the clinical staff involved in providing care in the hospital.
Pain that persists for longer than three months is what we consider to be Chronic pain. Chronic Pain does not always correlate with tissue damage and can persist after healing has completed. Chronic pain can have an impact on a person’s Mental, Social and physical health. The overall aim of pain management is to reduce suffering and increase function where possible. We’re not always able to ‘cure’ this type of pain but Specialist Services such as The Manchester Pain Service are able to provide support for these types of conditions through options such as Medications Management, Pain Self-Management and Pain Interventions in the Pain Clinic based at The Baguley Suite in Wythenshawe Hospital and Trafford General Hospital.
The Multi-Disciplinary Team
Pain Consultants
Our Pain Consultants have a wealth of experience across the spectrum of Acute and Chronic pain. They create individualised pain management plans; That may include procedural interventions, Medications management or referring on to other services.
Pain Specialist Physiotherapists
Our Pain Specialist Physiotherapists provide outpatient pain management physiotherapy input. They help to enable patients living with persistent pain to improve their quality of life through education, movement, pacing and goal setting. They offer individual and group sessions.
Pain Specialist Psychologists
Our Pain Specialist Psychologists understand that chronic pain can be a very distressing experience that can have a significant impact on people’s wellbeing and quality of life. A Psychologist will assess the impact that chronic pain has had on an individual’s mood, work, social activities and family life.
The approaches that are primarily used in the pain service are Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The aim of their work is not to reduce the pain itself but to reduce the problems that are caused by the pain and help people learn new ways of coping to gradually regain control of their life despite the pain, both now and in the future.
Advanced Clinical Practitioner
Our ACP has a wealth of experience managing Musculo-skeletal and chronic pain conditions. They support pain consultants and the multi-disciplinary team by providing advanced assessment and developing individualised pain management plans, which may include procedural interventions, medications management or referring on to other services.
Clinical Nurse Specialists
Our Clinical Nurse Specialist team work across different MFT Inpatient and Outpatient services. They aid the delivery of pain management plans by reviewing and treating patients; as well as providing education to other health care professionals in the wider health care system.
Theatre Nursing Team
Our Theatre Nursing team is integral to be able to perform procedural interventions. You may speak to one of the nursing team during pre-op clinic. They are on hand to answer any of the queries you may have relating to the procedure you have been listed for.
Pain Secretaries
Our Admin team make it possible for you to have your appointments and procedures. They provide support to all the clinical staff delivering your care.
How to Contact the Pain Service
The chronic pain service at Wythenshawe and Trafford can be contacted either via telephone or email.
Please call 0161 291 4128 and leave a message.
Email address – painmanagement.secretaries@mft.nhs.uk
Cancellations
If you are a patient wanting to change or cancel an appointment within the Trafford or Wythenshawe hospital service please call 0161 291 4128 and leave a message.
Email address – painmanagement.secretaries@mft.nhs.uk
Please try to inform us at the earliest opportunity able so we are able to offer the appointment to another patient who is waiting to be treated.
Waiting Times
As a team we understand that it is distressing for patients who have pain to have to wait to see a consultant and we are doing our very best to keep the waiting lists as short as possible.
Once a referral is received into the service, it is triaged by one of the team. If the referral is accepted following triage an appointment is requested. However, it may be that the referral is rejected following triage and returned to the referring clinician. If your referral is rejected the referring clinician will be notified by letter and it is their responsibility to ensure you are informed of this decision. The service aims to complete triage within 6 weeks of referral.
If your referral is accepted the current waiting time for a routine first appointment is up to 52 weeks from the time of referral.
Please be advised allocation of short notice cancelled appointments will be allocated as per waiting list.
Urgent referrals – please note your GP may have referred you urgently to our pain service. This will be reviewed at the point of triage and if your referral meets certain criteria an urgent appointment will be allocated. Please note, due to the number of referrals received into the service each year, most referrals will be allocated as non-urgent following triage.
Email- painmanagement.secretaries@mft.nhs.uk
The service aims to respond to queries within 48 hours.
Additional Information
Community Pain Service
Our community-based pain (PRIMO) services are part of MFT’s Integrated Musculoskeletal (MSK), Pain and Rheumatology Service and the Trafford LCO integrated MSK service. They provide multi-disciplinary care for south Manchester and Trafford patients experiencing persistent pain with mild to moderate distress. This involves Biopsychosocial assessment, individual treatment, Pain Management Programmes and medication advice. The team includes Clinical and Health Psychologists, Specialist Physiotherapists, An Advanced Clinical Practitioner and a Specialist Pain Nurse.
Pelvic Pain Service at Manchester Foundation Trust
We have established pelvic pain service at Wythenshawe and St Mary’s site. This service is led by Pelvic Pain Consultant and Anaesthetist Dr Vyawahare. The service is expanding and recently been approved as a national Urogynaecology Mesh service centre. In year 2020 we were certified as BSGE Endometriosis Centre for Northwest pelvic pain and Endometriosis. At Wythenshawe we run weekly clinics and a monthly clinic at St Mary’s. We receive referrals from Urogynaecology (mesh and non-mesh pelvic pain patients), Dermatology, Gynaecology, Urology and Colorectal teams. Our work load consists of vulvodynia, pudendal neuropathy, endometriosis, bladder pain syndrome, rectal pain, penile and testicular pain. We run multidisciplinary clinic at both sites.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
I have been referred to the pain clinic. When will I be seen?
We know waiting can be difficult when you are in pain. We are working hard to keep waits as short as we can.
The wait for a first appointment can be up to 52 weeks. This starts from the date we get your referral. We must read your referral first to see if we can accept you into our service. We cannot give pain care advice before this.
If an appointment becomes free last-minute, we will offer it out depending on who has been waiting the longest.
My GP said my referral is urgent. When will I be seen?
Though you may have been referred urgently, most referrals we are sent are classed as non-urgent after we read them. This is because not all referrals can be given urgent appointments, and we are sent a very high number of referrals each month. If your referral meets specific rules, we will offer you an urgent appointment.
I need reasonable adjustments. What should I do?
Reasonable adjustments are changes we can make to help you to use our service. This means we may change the way we support you, if you need this because of a disability, health condition, or communication need. Please tell us if you need this kind of support and we will work with you to provide this. You can email us or leave a voicemail. We will contact you if we need more details.
I need more time to fill in the form. Will I be sent back to my GP?
Please tell us as soon as possible if you need help with the form, or if you need more time. We will try our best to help if needed. We need your form before we can look at your referral. The form tells us about you and your pain and helps us decide if our service is right for you.
If we do not hear from you by the date given, you will be sent back to your GP.
How long will I wait for treatment?
If you are waiting for an injection or nurse-led treatment, the wait can vary greatly depending on how busy the service is at the time. It can also depend on which treatment you need, and your consultant’s waiting list. We will try to follow the plan agreed with you in clinic. This may not always be possible if the service is very busy.
Please note, we cannot guarantee 3-monthly, 6-monthly, or yearly treatments. You will be offered an appointment as soon as one becomes available. We are doing our best to keep waiting times as low as possible. If you would like to discuss this further, please send us an email.
When will my clinic appointment be?
If this is your first appointment at the pain clinic, please see the answer to question number one.
For other appointments, the waiting time depends on the team you need to see. This may be a doctor, nurse, physiotherapist or psychologist. The wait can be anywhere from a few weeks to several months. This can vary depending on how busy the service is.
I cannot come to my appointment. Can I change it?
Please tell us at least 24 hours before your appointment if you cannot come. If you cancel later than this, it will be counted as a Did Not Attend (DNA). If this happens, you may be discharged.
If you need to change your appointment, tell us as soon as you can. We will aim to offer two other dates with at least three weeks’ notice. If you do not accept either date, you may be discharged. You will not be discharged if you cannot accept an appointment with less than three weeks’ notice.
I am in severe pain. Can someone call me, or can I come to clinic?
Please tell us as soon as possible if you have new symptoms or side effects from a treatment we have started. Admin staff will pass your message to a Doctor, Nurse or other member of the team.
However, you need an appointment to be seen by us. We are not a walk-in service or urgent care centre. Our clinical team do not have time to see any patients without an appointment.
Please do not come to clinic without an appointment. You will not be seen.
Please speak to your GP if you need help while you wait. We give advice, but your GP looks after your overall care. This includes pain care even if you are under a pain service. In an emergency, always go to A&E.
If you need to ask a question which is not answered above:
You can contact us between Monday and Friday, 8 am to 5 pm using the details above. Please leave a voicemail or send an email. Make sure you leave your name and birth date or hospital/NHS number.
We will try to reply within 5 working days. Please do not send another message before this time has passed. We receive a very high number of messages. We are very grateful of your help with keeping message traffic low. This way we can help as many people as possible