The most straightforward way to be referred if you live in Southampton or Portsmouth is via your GP. Sometimes other health care professionals who you are seeing such as a neurologist or a physiotherapist for example may talk to you about a referral. When considering whether this is the right time for you to be referred it is important to consider what kind of help you are looking for. The pain management service cannot offer a complete cure for your pain nor any medication that will completely take away the pain and much of the work that is done will be focused on helping you enjoy a better quality of life despite pain.
When the Pain Team receive your referral they will look through the information and they may then ask you to fill in a specific questionnaire about your pain and how it affects you. Sometimes people are signposted to other services as there may be something else that needs to be dealt with, this can include needing other medical treatments or needing support from other services better placed to help you. If your referral is not accepted this does not mean that we would not see you in the future if appropriate.
- If you are looking for a further medical opinion or cure for your pain.
- If you are experiencing severe mental health problems, we would normally suggest delaying the referral until these are stable and managed.
- If you have a diagnosis/all your investigations for you pain have been completed. If you have finished seeing other services who are working with you curing or reducing your pain (e.g. any surgery, physiotherapy, other procedures.)
- You agree and accept that the pain has become persistent and is having a significant impact on your day to day life.
- A willingness to learn about self-management approach to pain.
Information for practitioners
GP’s please refer via Advice and Guidance module on Choose and Book where your referral letter will be screened by a consultant.
Other practitioners: Please refer through a letter where it will be screened and advice and guidance given or your referral moved onto the next stage.
To contact the team directly our email address is (for Southampton patients ONLY): southamptonpainteam
• Adult patients with persistent non-malignant pain (not active cancer & not palliative). Occasional referrals from palliative care on case by case basis.
• Adults aged 18 and over.
• Patients with increasing disability and distress due to pain or more than 3 months duration.
• All appropriate investigations have been carried out in relation to that specific pain on a case-by-case basis.
• Appropriate interventions have been exhausted, e.g., first line medication and physiotherapy.
• Pain has been appropriately investigated before a referral into the pain service (we are a non-investigative service).
• Pain where the risk of surgery/other intervention outweighs the benefits.
• Pain not due to acute active inflammatory conditions.
• Patient has been given clear and appropriate information about the service and consents to the referral.
• Children and adolescents under the age of 18
• Patients not registered with a GP from a contracted surgery or agreed previously through the contracts team.
• Current major psychiatric disturbance (including psychosis, severe depression, or anxiety) where there is no clear stabilisation care plan.
• Patients who are unable to engage with the service (face to face, video, or phone) due insurmountable access issues.
• Primary drug or alcohol dependence which is a barrier to moving forward on a persistent pain pathway. (Excluding drug issues with pain relief that do not fit criteria for an addiction disorder)
• Specific management of Opioid Use Disorder (this is managed by community pharmacy team)
• Moderate -severe cognitive impairment (which would prevent engagement with treatment process)
• If the patient has received significant intervention from the service for the same condition previously and it would appear appropriate from the referral, they may be redirected or discharged.
• Self-exclusion
• No attempts made to manage pain by non-specialists (e.g., Neuropathic pain should have trialled NICE primary care medicines, MSK pain should have been assessed by MSK service)
• Functional neurological disorder where pain is not the whole or predominant symptom, reviewed on a case-by-case basis. (e.g., vomiting/falls/dizziness/gut motility problems)
• Cancer pain (if under treatment for active cancer or active palliative care). Referral accepted only from palliative care team in exceptional circumstances on case by case basis.
• Pain expected to resolve
• Re-referrals where the team have indicated treatment is exhausted. This will be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
• Ongoing lines of investigation/treatment pathways which are a barrier to moving forwards with a persistent pain pathway. To be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
Podcast
Pain Services Explained: A Conversation for GPs
In this podcast, Dr Will Howard, Medical Director at Wessex LMCs, is joined by Cathy Price, a Pain Medicine Consultant with over 25 years of experience. Together, they explore current pain services and how GPs can make the most of them, discuss how to identify appropriate patients for referral, and consider the value of a multidisciplinary approach.
Click here to listen.
(November 2025)