Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help sufferers of complex regional pain syndrome.

To raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals and help them recognise the symptoms complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published a clinical guideline on the diagnosis, referral and management of the condition in May 2012. The guideline can be found at the following link:

www.rcplondon.ac.uk/guidelines-policy/pain-complex-regional-pain-syndrome

More general information on CRPS can be found on the National Health Service Choices website, alongside advice about living with chronic pain and links to patient support groups and organisations such as the British Pain Society:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/complex-regional-pain-Syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx

The routine assessment and management of pain is a required competency of all healthcare professionals. Many patients with long term chronic pain, such as those with CRPS, can be successfully supported and managed through routine primary and secondary care pain management services. In addition to the RCP guideline, other sources of evidence based guidance to support clinicians includes the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline on the pharmacological management of neuropathic pain, which is relevant to the care of patients with CRPS.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg173

it is important that patients with the most serious pain management issues are able to access specialist care. A patient whose pain is particularly difficult to manage may be referred to a specialised pain management service. Under the care of an expert multidisciplinary team, patients may be offered specialised pain management programmes specifically for CRPS and more complex drugs treatments.