Our Work

Background

Opioids are a type of pain relief medication that doctors prescribe for people who are in a lot of pain, such as if injured or after surgery. These medicines help ease the pain. Examples of opioids are morphine and codeine.

There is not much evidence that opioids are effective for long-term persistent pain (lasting more than three months), that is not related to cancer. Opioids can be harmful and cause risks if taken for a long time or in high doses.

By using alternatives to long-term opioids, we can save lives. The National Medicines Safety Improvement Programme estimates that for every 62 patients with chronic pain who can be supported with alternatives to long-term opioid medication, one life can be saved. For persistent pain, there are effective ways to live with pain without using medicine.

Joined Up Care Derbyshire was identified as being one of the areas with high prescribing of opioids in the Midlands region and are working with Health Innovation East Midlands to help people live well with long-lasting pain and reduce harm from opioids. In Late 2022, Tony Jamieson from NHS England visited Joined Up Care Derbyshire to learn about the work Derbyshire are doing. Find out more about Tony’s visit.

Our mission and Vision Statement;

Our work so far;

The aim of this work is to support people to manage their persistent pain in a way that works for them. This might include finding advice and information on pain on this website, joining a Live Well With Pain support group, attending a pain management course, information on voluntary group activities, or connecting with Social Prescribers or Health and Wellbeing Coaches. This is in addition to the help you get from your doctor and other medical services.

In Joined Up Care Derbyshire, we created a ‘Pain Management Collaborative’ This is a network of people who support people living with pain or live with pain. The Pain Management Collaborative decides what to focus on each year. The picture below shows how the Pain Management Collaborative works.

A collaborative action planning event is held annually. This is open to anyone to attend who has an interest in pain, supports people with pain or lives with pain. Feedback from this event helps us to plan what to work on. The two groups in the red boxes on the diagram take those workstreams forward.

Here are some initiatives that have been taken forward from previous action planning events;

• A guide to help prescribers reduce opioid medicine doses
• Over 60 healthcare professionals have completed the ‘Live Well With Pain – Ten Footsteps Practitioner’ training
• Supporting practices to set up Live Well With Pain courses or support groups by producing an implementation guide and facilitators guide. Here is a short video about the Lister House Surgery Pain Management Support Group. Feedback from people who have attended Live Well With Pain courses or groups in Derbyshire can be seen here.

• An information leaflet for people who are prescribed short term opioids after discharge from hospital
• A policy for the prescribing of opioid medication on discharge from hospital
• Pain Management webpages on the Joined Up Care Derbyshire website
• A set of standards to support a safe opioid prescribing system for both GP Practice staff and patients

Our last collaborative action planning event took place on the 29^th of February, 2024. The feedback from this event will help plan what to do in 2024-25. More details will come soon.

Lived Experience Of Pain

 Michelle Butler and Paul Hemsil, who both have experience of chronic pain, share in these short videos what matters to them when it comes to their pain journey.

Get involved

This work requires a whole system approach and we need involvement from all our partners across Joined Up Care Derbyshire. If you work within pain management services, support people living with chronic pain, or live with chronic pain and are interested in getting involved in this work please email  meds.man@nhs.net