State urged to up pain clinic funding

A LEADING pain specialist called for more state funding for pain clinics yesterday ahead of a major conference on the issue.

Dr John Browne, a consultant pain specialist at Cork University Hospital — one of only 15 such specialistst in the country, said his clinic was being swamped every week with up to 60 people suffering from chronic pain.

Days lost at work due to the condition are costing the State hundreds of millions of euro annually. But the psychology service associated with pain clinics is inadequate, he said.

More state funding is needed to improve this element of the service which can help people develop coping mechanisms and get back to work, he said.

Chronic pain is defined as constant debilitating pain suffered for more than three months.

“One in eight people is suffering the condition,” Dr Browne said. “In one survey, 100,000 sufferers said the pain was so bad they just wanted to die.”

He said back pain is the biggest cause of chronic pain in the community.

Psychologists who help people develop coping mechanisms to live with chronic pain are a crucial part of treatment.

“We do not have an adequate psychology service yet,” he said.

“It is only in the last 10 years that people have taken chronic pain seriously.”

Dr Browne is organising the Irish Pain Society’s annual scientific meeting in Cork tomorrow. It will focus on back pain.

Dozens of national and international pain experts will address the conference and will outline a range of new treatments, including spinal implants which interrupt pain signals.

The conference takes place at the Kingsley Hotel from 9am to 5pm.