Patients referred to COPE will be invited to the introductory pain education programme.
What is the introductory programme about?
The introductory programme is a two and a half hour education session for patients who have persistent or chronic pain and have been referred to COPE. The programme is delivered by at least 2 members of the COPE clinical team which includes a clinical physiotherapist specialist, clinical nurse specialist and clinical psychologist.
Each session is run with a maximum of 20 participants all of whom will have a diagnosis of persistent or chronic pain.
The programme will cover the following topics:
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understanding persistent or chronic pain;
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strategies for coping with pain;
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information about the eight week pain management programme and other COPE services.
What are the aims of the programme?
As medical treatments for persistent pain do not always work as hoped, people are often left with continuing pain which begins to impact on other parts of their life, such as work, family, social life, sleep and mood.
The aim of the programme is to help you to understand how chronic pain works and introduce you to a range of skills for managing your pain. We hope that this will help you to improve your quality of life and cope with the challenges that persistent pain can present.
The session will also give you the opportunity to find out more about our eight week pain management programme and decide if you would like to be considered for this.
This education session enables us to offer you help more quickly and to ensure that we offer a full multidisciplinary assessment only to people who understand our service and want the kind of help which we offer.
When is the introductory programme held?
Introductory Programmes are held every five weeks.
You are encouraged to attend the next available session as you will not be able to opt in to further assessment until you have attended the Introductory Programme.
What is expected of me?
The session will involve being at the centre for two and a half hours plus your journey time to and from the hospital. There is a refreshment break in the middle of the session and pillows and mats are available for those who need to take time out to rest during the session.
For those people for whom sitting time is restricted we will encourage you to move about whenever you need to.
If you think that attending this session may be difficult for you, you are encouraged to contact a member of the clinical team to discuss how we may best be able to help you.
What happens after the introductory programme?
If you wish to attend the pain management programme or discuss what other help may be available you will be invited to make an appointment for multidisciplinary assessment at COPE.
If you do not contact us within three weeks after the introductory programme we will assume you do not want or feel that you need further help from COPE and you will be discharged back to your GP or the original referrer.
Confidentiality
This is not a support group and no-one will be asked to share information of a
personal or sensitive nature. Anything which you do disclose will be kept
confidential by the COPE team.
Please note that although we will ask other participants to respect your confidentiality, we cannot guarantee this. You will have the opportunity to discuss any personal issues confidentially at the multidisciplinary assessment if you choose to opt in to this.
Further information
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the COPE team on the
telephone number below. However, please bear in mind that the introductory
programme is designed to answer your questions about our service.
COPE (Centre of Pain Education)
Cheviot House
Sutton Hospital
Cotswold Road
Sutton
Surrey SM2 5NF
Tel: 020 8296 4315 (answerphone outside office hours)
