About us

The National Pain Audit has been set up to look into pain management around the UK over the next 3 years

Contact us:
The National Pain Audit
Dr Foster Research Ltd
12 Smithfield Street
London
EC1A 9LA

Email: painaudit@drfoster.co.uk

For more information see the overview

In this page...

Audit Methodology

Methods

Focus on provision

1. The identification of all specialist pain facilities in England and Wales

A questionnaire, designed to collect information on types of pain services available and their staffing and facilities, will be developed and tested. The questionnaire will be developed by input from a team of clinicians, data management experts, an epidemiologist and patients and will be tested in 12 pain centres. This will then be reviewed and amended appropriately.

The questionnaire will collect information on:

  • Location

  • Type of facility

  • Resources including staff, equipment and support facilities

The information collected will constitute the national data-base of pain facilities. A pain facility will be defined as 'any NHS funded service for the treatment of persistent pain' and all services meeting this criteria will be invited to participate in this audit. Pain services wholly in the private sector and non-medical services (e.g. complementary therapists working in isolation) will be excluded.

A questionnaire will be sent to every NHS Trust and Primary Care Trust to identify the location of all specialist pain clinics within primary and secondary care in England. The questionnaire will be available to complete through an online collection system (respondents will be provided with secure login details) or a hardcopy with the information entered by audit administrative staff. In addition to NHS providers input will be provided by pain networks, pain organisations, The British Pain Society and other organisations dedicated to the management of pain such as the Pain Physiotherapy Association. All clinics identified will be mapped to provider and Strategic Health Authority within the subsequent national data-set.

Time period

This information will be updated on an annual basis by providers but may be may be subject to ad-hoc updates where necessary e.g. clinic closures etc.

Data completeness and validation

Completeness is expected to be high as all NHS providers should be able to confirm whether they provide specialist pain services through a pain clinic or clinics and basic structural information concerning staffing and the facilities available.

All the information collected will be validated against the previous data-set from the Pain Audit Collection System (PACS) which identified 206 pain clinics in 2000/2001.

Analysis and reporting

The responses to the questionnaire will be stored in a database and analysed. The level and spread of service will be reported and compared to internationally agreed definitions of types pain facilities and nationally agreed guidance on resources to run such facilities. A service will be described as meeting agreed standards across a range of domains as specified in Section 5 (Questionnaire). This will be classified as Met or Not Met. The data will be reported at national and local level. Facilities serving similar types of populations served will be compared such as used by Public Health Observatories in reporting data. Resources available for a type of facility will be compared to other similar facilities.

Data Fields

The following fields will be collected and recorded for each individual pain facility to establish the national data-set:

STRUCTURAL DATA:

  • HOSPITAL \ CLINIC NAME
  • ODS SITE CODE
  • PARENT PROVIDER ODS CODE
  • ADDRESS LINE 1
  • ADDRESS LINE 2
  • ADDRESS LINE 3
  • TOWN
  • POSTCODE
  • TELEPHONE NUMBER
  • EMAIL ADDRESS

GENERAL INFORMATION:

  • FACILITY SETTING
  • DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE
  • PCT(S) SERVED BY THE FACILITY
  • POPULATION SIZE SERVED BY THE FACILITY
  • AVERAGE WAITING TIME FROM REFERRAL TO FIRST APPOINTMENT

STAFFING:

  • NUMBER OF CONSULTANT POSTS BY SPECIALTY
  • AVERAGE WTE OF CONSULTANT(S)
  • NUMBER OF LOCUM CONSULTANT POSTS BY SPECIALTY
  • AVERAGE WTE OF LOCUM CONSULTANT(S)
  • NUMBER OF NON CONSULTANT CAREER GRADE DOCTORS
  • AVERAGE WTE OF NON CONSULTANT CAREER GRADE DOCTORS
  • NUMBER OF TRAINEE DOCTORS BY TYPE
  • AVERAGE WTE OF TRAINEE DOCTORS
  • NUMBER OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS WORKING AT THE FACILITY BY TYPE
  • AVERAGE WTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS BY TYPE
  • NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT POSTS AT THE FACILITY BY TYPE
  • AVERAGE WTE OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT STAFF
  • NUMBER AND TYPE OF STAFF TRAINING SESSIONS AVAILABLE

FACILITIES:

  • ACCESS TO FACILITIES SUITABLE FOR INTERVENTIONAL PAIN PROCEDURES
  • AVAILABILITY OF FACILITIES AND SPECIALIST EQUIPMENT
  • ACCESS FOR WHEELCHAIRS AND DISABLED PATIENTS
  • AVAILABILITY OF INPATIENT BEDS AND 24 HR MEDICAL COVER
  • SUPPORT SERVICES AVAILABLE FOR PATIENTS
  • ACCESS TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
  • OUTPATIENT FACILITIES
  • AVERAGE DURATION OF FIRST OUTPATIENNT APPOINTMENT
  • AVERAGE DURATION OF FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENT
  • NUMBER OF NEW PATIENTS SEEN DURING THE LAST FINANCIAL YEAR [2008/2009]
  • NUMBER OF FOLLOW-UP PATIENTS SEEN DURING THE LAST FINANCIAL YEAR [2008/2009]
  • NUMBER OF TELEPHONE CONSULTATIONS DURING THE LAST FINANCIAL YEAR [2008/2009]
  • MULTIDISCIPLNARY TEAM WORKING ARRANGEMENTS
  • TREATMENTS PROVIDED AT THE PAIN FACILITY
  • AUDIT ACTIVITY
  • CLINICAL RESEARCH ACTIVITY
  • CLINICAL TRAINING & TEACHING AVAILABLE AT THE FACILITY

You can download an excel version of the full NHS commissioner questionnaire here.