Connect Health helped to create a 'legacy of positive change', says senior MSK physio Richard Pell
Senior musculoskeletal physiotherapist Richard Pell has stressed the importance of having ‘direct conversations’ with people living with chronic pain after an initiative in north east England recorded impressive results.
Richard – who has worked for community healthcare services provider Connect Health for 15 years – is the campaign director for Flippin’ Pain, the health initiative behind a roadshow of events that has been completed in the region.
With partner organisations NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, Tees Valley Sport Active Partnership, Teesside University and You’ve Got This – Richard and colleagues delivered a six-day roadshow at 19 public and healthcare professional events across the region.
Richard said: ‘We know that when it comes to pain, medications and surgeries are not always the answer. We understand that everything matters when it comes to pain and that the biopsychosocial factors are part of a complex picture of how pain affects the individual.'
He added: ‘Our focus has always been on having direct conversations with real people and clinicians to talk about how we can change outdated perceptions and provide support to make a positive difference. By working together, we can make it happen, and in the Tees Valley we have created a legacy of positive change.’
The public-private taskforce is now calling for its approach to be rolled out nationwide. Three times the number of high dose opioid and painkillers are prescribed in the north east England per head than in London, and one working age adult in four (24 per cent) is deemed to be ‘economically inactive’ (not unemployed) compared to a national average of 21 per cent.
In the Tees Valley – an area that includes Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Darlington – chronic pain reaches its peak, affecting 43 per cent of the population, plus their loved ones.
The scheme, known as the Flippin’ Pain Tees Valley Outreach Tour, reached more than 2,400 people affected by chronic pain or working with those affected by it.
As a direct result
- more than one person in three said that they could better manage their own pain
- most (87 per cent) said they recognised their beliefs about pain management were outdated
- most (73 per cent) said they believed exercise was beneficial: a 40 per cent increase from before the tour
- nearly half said they were more likely to consider tapering their opioid use
Our focus has always been on having direct conversations with real people and clinicians to talk about how we can change outdated perceptions and provide support to make a positive difference [Richard Pell]
Let's work together
Robin Bedford, strategic lead for adult wellbeing at Tees Valley Sport Active Partnership, believes this collaboration could be successfully replicated with meaningful repercussions nationwide. ‘I used to manage a team that ran exercise referral programmes, and chronic pain was given frequently as a reason for people not attending. There are brilliant things happening around physical activity in Tees Valley and beyond, but the reality is that there are also many barriers to why people cannot be active.
'By joining forces with other experts, and actively getting out and about and talking to people, we could think differently about some of the challenges we faced and tackle them in a new way – which we couldn’t have done alone.’
You’ve Got This, the Sport England Place Partnership in South Tees that has a remit to get people exercising more, was another partner in the collaboration. The team learned from clinicians and social prescribers that local people felt their pain stopped them from being physically active. Through pilot funding, NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board were brought in.
Mark Fishpool, You’ve Got This programme director, said the events for health professionals were well supported. ‘We could barely fit everyone in the room. I think as a collaboration, we’ve really led the curve on this.'
He added: 'While the partners might look different in different parts of the country, everywhere has people who are facing the same challenges. There is definitely a way that organisations can join together to create connectivity, just like we all did together.'
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Author: Ian A McMillan