Gloucestershire Hospitals - Pain Medicine
Gloucestershire provides a comprehensive and well-structured training environment for anaesthetists pursuing a Special Interest Area (SIA) in Acute and Chronic Pain, fully approved by the Faculty of Pain Medicine.
We offer full syllabus coverage except for neuromodulation. Trainees undertaking an SIA in Chronic Pain will spend six months at North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) to complete their neuromodulation training, while Gloucestershire serves as a designated centre for the remaining six months, providing a robust foundation in interventional and multidisciplinary pain management. With a team of seven consultant pain specialists, the service delivers:
- An average of six dedicated interventional pain lists per week
- An average of 17 outpatient clinics per week
Interventional Pain Procedures
Our department performs a wide range of interventional procedures, including:
- Spinal interventions: nerve root blocks, facet joint injections, radiofrequency lesioning, and sacroiliac joint injections
- Peripheral interventions: interscalene blocks, trigger point injections, and joint injections
- Cryoablation: knee and hip pain management
- Specialist Palliative care procedures
Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Involvement
Trainees will have the opportunity to participate in a range of specialist MDT meetings, offering a holistic and collaborative approach to pain management:
- Exposure to multidisciplinary Pain Self-Management group and individual appointments (led by clinical psychologists/ specialist physiotherapists and Pain nurses)
- Nurse led qutenza and opioid reduction clinics
- Regular Pain Self-Management MDT
- Weekly Spinal MDT (Wednesdays)
- High-Intensity User Clinic
- Paediatric Pain MDT
- Pelvic Pain MDT
- Intrathecal Pump Refill Clinic
- Monthly MDT with all consultants and the Pain Management Team (third Thursday of the month)
Training Flexibility and Career Development
Trainees in Gloucestershire are supernumerary during their Pain SIA, allowing them to tailor their experience to specific interests. There are excellent opportunities to:
- Attend Integrated Care Board (ICB) management meetings, gaining insight into service planning and leadership
- Undertake quality improvement projects and research, enhancing CV development
- Gain palliative care experience, with close collaboration between the pain service and Sue Ryder hospice care
Paediatric Pain Exposure
Trainees will gain experience managing paediatric pain in both acute and chronic settings, including a regular paediatric chronic pain clinic and MDT. Additional exposure at external tertiary centres can be arranged for those seeking further paediatric pain training.
Geographical Coverage
Our pain services operate across multiple sites, including:
- Gloucester and Cheltenham (primary hospital locations)
- Outreach clinics in Cirencester, Dilke, Moreton-in-Marsh, and Tewkesbury
Why Train in Gloucestershire?
This post offers a highly flexible and enriching experience, balancing advanced interventional training, multidisciplinary collaboration, and leadership development—an ideal environment for anaesthetists looking to build expertise in pain medicine. Residents will be on an on call rota, with all other working days protected for time in the pain department,
SIA lead