The Acute Pain Service provides care for patients requiring specialised techniques of analgesia, such as Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA, Opioid Infusions, Epidural Analgesia, and Spinal Analgesia) for acute pain relief on an inpatient basis.

The Acute Pain service is coordinated from recovery by the Anaesthetic Department, and provides optimal analgesia to post-operative patients and for individuals suffering acute exacerbation of pain. The service also provides care for women in labour and for paediatric patients who may also require advanced techniques of pain management.

The Acute Pain Service - in liaison with surgical colleagues, pharmacists and Ward clinicians - has developed a systematic approach to post-operative pain control.

Our aims are to:

• Improve post-operative analgesia in the acute care setting
• Reduce morbidity associated with inadequate analgesia
• Reduce morbidity associated with analgesic techniques
• Provide a mechanism for communication between anaesthetic, surgical, medical and nursing staff, with regard to post-operative pain management
• Provide a resource unit for education about current techniques in acute pain management
• Develop and improve protocols for the various methods of pain relief currently used within ISLHD.

The Acute Pain Service Team consists of an:

• Acute Pain Service Registered Nurse
• Anaesthetic Registrar
• Emergency Anaesthetist.