Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve NHS (a) treatment and (b) support for those suffering from chronic long-term pain conditions.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have established a task and finish group to produce guidance on the provision of high-quality services for people living with long-term pain conditions by April 2022. The guidance is aimed at integrated care systems to provide core principles which can be used to inform the development of local models of care to support people living with chronic pain.
NHS England and NHS Improvement will appoint a National Clinical Director for Prescribing in November 2021. The National Clinical Director will be responsible for promoting safe use of medicines, such as opioids for patients suffering from chronic pain conditions, as recommended in the 2021 National Overprescribing Review.