Chronic pain management clinic at Ipswich Hospital

Ipswich Hospital pain clinic

The team at the pain clinic is made up of a range of different professionals. Because of this, we are able to offer a wide range of pain management options. These include:

• pain medication (drugs)
• medical interventions (for example injections)
• non-drug treatments (such as learning pain management strategies, seeing a physiotherapist, nurse or clinical psychologist)

What type of pain management approach you are offered will depend on what would suit you best.

Because everyone is unique, and their pain condition is unique to them, no one type of treatment will be suitable for everybody. Your pain management consultant or pain nurse specialist (a doctor or nurse specialising in pain) will meet with you, find out all about the pain you experience, and will be able to advise you on what would be best for you. It might help you to write down beforehand any specific questions you have or information you want, in order to help you get the most out of the consultation. Please do ask your consultant to explain anything you do not understand.

If you have preferences for one type of treatment over another, we will take this into account wherever we can – but we will not be able to offer you a treatment if it is unsuitable for the type of pain you have.

Your pain management consultant will deal with your medication or any medical procedures which might help with your pain. He or she may also refer you on to other members of the multidisciplinary team (such as clinical psychologists, nurses or physiotherapists) who will support you and work alongside you to help you develop ways of managing your pain effectively.

Other professionals in the team (nurses, physiotherapists and clinical psychologists) offer the following services:

• specialist physiotherapy
• individualised pain management advice
• TENS clinic
• nurse-led clinics
• clinical psychology: individual, couple, family and systemic
• loan of light boxes to help with seasonal mood changes

The Pain Clinic is located on the 9th floor of the maternity block – entrance 7.

Ipswich Pain Management Unit Accessibility information from AccessAble (Opens in a new window).

Groups and workshops for pain management

Understanding your pain

This is a one-session workshop which covers the main things you need to know about chronic pain. The presenters explain what chronic pain is, why it happens, how it is different from short-term pain, and what can be done about it.

Pain management information sessions

Two workshops which introduce you to the core skills you need to effectively manage your pain: pacing, posture correction, stretch, relaxation, and how to settle flare-ups of pain. (You must have attended the Understanding Your Pain workshop before attending the Pain Management Information Sessions).

Pain management programme

This is an intensive course which runs for one day a week over 8 weeks, with further meetings after one month and after 6 months. It is for people who have attended the Key Concepts seminars and the two Pain Management Advice Seminars and who have found these helpful. The course gives participants the opportunity to master advanced pain management skills in a supportive setting, with the guidance of a clinical psychologist and specialist physiotherapist.

Contact us

If you are not yet a patient of the service, then you are welcome to contact us to ask questions or find out more, but you cannot refer yourself to the service. You will need your GP or hospital consultant to refer you to us.