Mapping the gaps: Multi-disciplinary chronic pain service provision for cancer-related pain across England.

Authors

Julie Armoogum, Alison Llewellyn, Fiona Cramp, Alice Berry, Candida McCabe

Published in

British journal of pain. Pages 20494637261465816. Jul 17, 2026. Epub Jul 17, 2026.

Abstract

Prevalence rates for cancer-related pain are 40-50%. Provision of multi-disciplinary chronic pain services for those with cancer-related pain is poorly understood.
To identify provision of multi-disciplinary chronic pain services for those with cancer-related pain across England.
Acute/Hospital and Community NHS Trusts in England (n = 190) were sent Freedom of Information requests asking if a multi-disciplinary chronic pain service was provided by the Trust, and numbers of people seen in previous 24 months with (a) tumour-related pain and (b) cancer-related late effects pain or pain caused by cancer treatments. Demographic information was requested. If no response was received within 10 weeks, a follow up request was sent. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics.
In total, 171 NHS Trusts responded. Almost half, (n = 74, 43.3%) reported providing a multi-disciplinary chronic pain service. Of these, 17 (23.0%) were able to provide attendance data for people with tumour-related pain and eight (10.8%) with late effects pain. Demographic information could be provided by seven (9.5%) Trusts for those with tumour-related pain and four (5.4%) for late effects pain. The main reason Trusts could not provide demographic information was because such data were not routinely collected.
People with cancer-related pain appear to have limited access to multi-disciplinary chronic pain support in England. However, lack of standardised methods of coding and recording cancer-related pain as reasons for attending multi-disciplinary chronic pain services mean reporting accurate figures is challenging. It is essential that there is an accurate reporting system so the scale of cancer-related pain can be understood to help guide the provision and development of services, education and research.

PMID:
42473443
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 20 Jul 2026.

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