Pain management
The Royal Marsden’s Pain Management Team aims to address any pain problems a patient may have while attending the hospital as an inpatient or outpatient.
Pain management services are divided into acute pain and chronic (long-term) pain.
Acute pain
The acute pain service ensures that patients’ pain is adequately treated after surgery or during cancer treatment such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy. This involves regular assessment and treatment of pain using pain-killing tablets (inpatients and outpatients) or injections, epidurals and patient-controlled analgesia machines (inpatients only).
Chronic pain
Patients with chronic (long-term) pain problems are managed as outpatients. We maintain close links with the primary oncology and/or surgical team to ensure continuity of care. The main treatments offered for outpatients include:
- treatment using pain-killing drugs
- links with the physiotherapy department
- links with the psychological medicine department
- links with palliative care
- nerve blocks
- complementary therapies such as massage
- stimulation-induced analgesia such as acupuncture and TENS.