Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of training for GPs and emergency healthcare staff to understand chronic pain conditions.

Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.

General practitioners are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.

All United Kingdom registered doctors are expected to meet the professional standards set out in the General Medical Council’s (GMC’s) Good Medical Practice. In 2012 the GMC introduced revalidation which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice, gives patients confidence doctors are up to date with their practice, and promotes improved quality of care by driving improvements in clinical governance.

To support healthcare professionals in the assessment and management of chronic pain, the NICE has published guidance on this topic, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193

The guidance includes recommendations for healthcare professionals on how to carry out a person-centred assessment when an individual presents with chronic pain, how to develop a care and support plan for a patient with chronic pain, and how to manage flare-ups of chronic pain. The guidance also includes recommendations on both pharmacological and non-pharmacological management options for chronic pain.