Most pain is short term or ‘acute’ and a result of injury or illness. At UCLH our specialist acute pain teams can help your medical team optimise pain relief.
Pain which is more persistent (or otherwise known as ‘chronic pain’) is usually managed as an outpatient. The expertise for managing chronic pain is located at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN) in the pain management centre.
UCLH Pain Management Centre is a nationally recognized centre of excellence for people with longstanding pain. We have a multi professional service made up of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and psychologists. We provide help to minimise pain where possible and maximise quality of life.
We provide groundbreaking pain management programmes alongside the latest interventions including systemic drug treatment, intravenous drug infusions, peripheral and central nerve blocks, radio frequency lesioning and spinal implants. We also provide information and access to TENS machines and acupuncture. We use a multidisciplinary integrated approach to help people get back to activities they used to enjoy and to live as full lives as possible despite pain.
Patient contact
General enquiries
Service management
Jacob Gartside
Address
Pain Management Centre at NHNN
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Cleveland Street
25 Cleveland Street
London
W1T 4AJ
Other referral information
GP Referrals
All GP referrals to our service must be made via the e-Referrals System. Please be aware that we are no longer accepting paper referrals from GP practices. We can be found on e-RS in searching by postcode, W1T 4AJ, and Speciality, Pain Management. If the referral is accepted the patient will be placed on the appropriate waiting list. If the referral is not accepted the referrer, GP, and patient will be notified.
Hospital Referrals
We are accepting paper referrals to our service from NHS Hospitals. These can either be emailed to uclh.referrals.nhnnappointments@nhs.net or posted to The Pain Management Centre, 25 Cleveland Street, London, W1T 4AJ.
The Pain Management Centre (PMC) provides care for patients in the local London area and is an NHS England Specialised Pain Management Centre. In line with British Pain Society guidance, patients who do not live locally should see their local pain service before being referred to us. This is to enable partnership working close to the patient’s home. Referrals are likely to be rejected if local services have not been accessed and/or community pain management plans not instituted.
How to find a local pain clinic: http://www.nationalpainaudit.org/findclinic
For most efficient service we now accept electronic referrals. If the referral is accepted the patient will be placed on the appropriate waiting list. If the referral is not accepted the referrer, GP and patient will be notified.
Facial pain referrals should be directed in the first instance to the facial pain clinic at the Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals.
Headache referrals should be directed in the first instance to the headache service at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
Referrals to the Abdominopelvic Pain Service
We require the following clinical information as per the Faculty of Pain Medicine guidelines:
- Full information (e.g. letters, notes, procedures undertaken) from previous pain services and relevant specialities (e.g. gynaecology, colorectal surgery, urology, gastroenterology, psychiatry)
- Outcomes (e.g. scan reports) from previous investigations related to the pain problem
- Full medication history including previous medications that have been tried
Patients should be fully assessed by a local doctor-led pain service as per NICE guidelines before referral to this specialised pain service. A management plan should be initiated, preferably including physiotherapy and psychology where available. If local pain services are unable to do this the reasons must be clearly documented in the referral.
Referral address
The Pain Management Centre
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Cleveland Street
25 Cleveland Street
London W1T 4AJ.
Our specialist areas of pain expertise include:
- Complex spinal pain
- Abdominal and pelvic pain
- Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
- Joint Hypermobility Syndrome
- Facial pain
- Pain associated with neurological conditions
- Pain following cancer
- Pain associated with sickle cell disease
- Headache
We are proud to have been recognised as a specialised centre for pain management, one of only several in the UK.
