A GAP analysis of the current state of Pain Management Services in the UK, 2024

Background: In the UK, multidisciplinary services for patients experiencing chronic pain are currently commissioned by the NHS as specialised services. Pain services across the UK were placed under significant strain during the COVID pandemic. The ‘GAP Analysis working group’ (GAP group) was commiss...

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Main Authors: Sue Copley, Beatrice Bretherton, Suzanne Carty, Matthew Brown, Sailesh Mishra, Emmy Kato Clarke, Ganesan Baranidharan, Devjit Srivastava
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:BJA Open
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772609625000383
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author Sue Copley
Beatrice Bretherton
Suzanne Carty
Matthew Brown
Sailesh Mishra
Emmy Kato Clarke
Ganesan Baranidharan
Devjit Srivastava
author_facet Sue Copley
Beatrice Bretherton
Suzanne Carty
Matthew Brown
Sailesh Mishra
Emmy Kato Clarke
Ganesan Baranidharan
Devjit Srivastava
author_sort Sue Copley
collection DOAJ
description Background: In the UK, multidisciplinary services for patients experiencing chronic pain are currently commissioned by the NHS as specialised services. Pain services across the UK were placed under significant strain during the COVID pandemic. The ‘GAP Analysis working group’ (GAP group) was commissioned by the Board of the Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) in November 2021 to evaluate the post-COVID state of pain services across the country. Methods: The GAP group's remit was to establish any deficit in pain services when measured against the service ‘gold standard’ outlined in the published FPM document ‘Core Standards for Pain Management Services volume 2.0’ (CSPMS). A survey was developed using an iterative consensus process among the group and was distributed to all FPM members. Results: The survey included questions pertaining to 21 standards. There were 164 respondents to this GAP analysis from 97 individual clinical sites delivering pain services in the UK. The majority of respondents worked in secondary care (74%), followed by tertiary care (23%) and finally primary care (3%). No single standard was met by all reporting sites. The degree of compliance with individual standards varied, ranging from only 30% of sites reporting full compliance (standard 9: research and development) to 79% of sites reporting full compliance (standard 21: interventional pain procedure). Conclusions: The following aspects of chronic pain services need urgent redress: provision of paediatric pain services, provision of cancer pain services, outcome data management support, research and development, and increased support of psychological services and pain management programme access.
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spelling doaj-art-10e3176125024aa9b01a7ec9dae6f4fa2025-08-20T02:00:50ZengElsevierBJA Open2772-60962025-06-011410041410.1016/j.bjao.2025.100414A GAP analysis of the current state of Pain Management Services in the UK, 2024Sue Copley0Beatrice Bretherton1Suzanne Carty2Matthew Brown3Sailesh Mishra4Emmy Kato Clarke5Ganesan Baranidharan6Devjit Srivastava7Faculty of Pain Medicine, London, UKFaculty of Pain Medicine, London, UKAnaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Somerset, UKPain Medicine, The Royal Marsden Hospital, London, UK; The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UKAnaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UKFaculty Pain Medicine, London, UKPain Medicine, University Hospital, Leeds, UKDepartment of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, UK; Corresponding author.Background: In the UK, multidisciplinary services for patients experiencing chronic pain are currently commissioned by the NHS as specialised services. Pain services across the UK were placed under significant strain during the COVID pandemic. The ‘GAP Analysis working group’ (GAP group) was commissioned by the Board of the Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) in November 2021 to evaluate the post-COVID state of pain services across the country. Methods: The GAP group's remit was to establish any deficit in pain services when measured against the service ‘gold standard’ outlined in the published FPM document ‘Core Standards for Pain Management Services volume 2.0’ (CSPMS). A survey was developed using an iterative consensus process among the group and was distributed to all FPM members. Results: The survey included questions pertaining to 21 standards. There were 164 respondents to this GAP analysis from 97 individual clinical sites delivering pain services in the UK. The majority of respondents worked in secondary care (74%), followed by tertiary care (23%) and finally primary care (3%). No single standard was met by all reporting sites. The degree of compliance with individual standards varied, ranging from only 30% of sites reporting full compliance (standard 9: research and development) to 79% of sites reporting full compliance (standard 21: interventional pain procedure). Conclusions: The following aspects of chronic pain services need urgent redress: provision of paediatric pain services, provision of cancer pain services, outcome data management support, research and development, and increased support of psychological services and pain management programme access.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772609625000383acute painchronic painGAP analysispain managementpain medicine
spellingShingle Sue Copley
Beatrice Bretherton
Suzanne Carty
Matthew Brown
Sailesh Mishra
Emmy Kato Clarke
Ganesan Baranidharan
Devjit Srivastava
A GAP analysis of the current state of Pain Management Services in the UK, 2024
BJA Open
acute pain
chronic pain
GAP analysis
pain management
pain medicine
title A GAP analysis of the current state of Pain Management Services in the UK, 2024
title_full A GAP analysis of the current state of Pain Management Services in the UK, 2024
title_fullStr A GAP analysis of the current state of Pain Management Services in the UK, 2024
title_full_unstemmed A GAP analysis of the current state of Pain Management Services in the UK, 2024
title_short A GAP analysis of the current state of Pain Management Services in the UK, 2024
title_sort gap analysis of the current state of pain management services in the uk 2024
topic acute pain
chronic pain
GAP analysis
pain management
pain medicine
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772609625000383
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