This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Trial to reduce patients’ dependency on strong pain killers
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Warwick have developed a support programme to help people reduce their dependency on strong pain killers and improve their quality of life.
Funded from the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, the study will compare existing GP care plus a self-help booklet and relaxation CD, and GP care plus a specifically designed group and one-to-one support programme developed at Warwick Medical School with input from the collaborative study team.
The Improving the Wellbeing of People with Opioid Treated Chronic Pain study intervention is targeting patients using strong pain killers up to and including Tramadol for the treatment of persistent non-cancer pain which account for 95 per cent of strong opioids prescribed in the UK within primary care.
Dr Harbinder Sandhu, Associate Professor from Warwick Medical School, said: “Evidence suggests that opioids are only effective in the short term and patients take them long term then need to manage a range of side effects and can suffer devastating withdrawal symptoms.
“However in the UK reports indicate that between 2000-2010 prescriptions of opioids for non-cancer pain increased by 466 per cent and in 2015 there were 16 million opioid prescriptions costing over £200 million. We hope that the results of our study will be used to help patients with long-term pain in the future.”
The intervention will run in in three locations – North East England, North East London and the West Midlands – with the 468 participants being recruited from around 100 general practices and community pain/musculoskeletal services.
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