• Hannah Twiddy, Natalie Lane, Rajiv Chawla, Selina Johnson, Alison Bradshaw, Shaireen Aleem, and Lucinda Mawdsley.
• Pain Management Programme, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK.
• Br J Pain. 2015 Nov 1; 9 (4): 233-40.

Context/BackgroundChronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a physically and psychologically debilitating condition. European Association of Urology (EAU) Guidelines (2013) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) guidelines (2012) place strong emphasis upon multi-speciality assessment and liaison, as well as interdisciplinary assessment and intervention in reference to the management of CPP.ObjectivesThe aim was to introduce and describe the development and delivery of an interdisciplinary pain management programme (PMP), at a Specialised Pain Management Centre in Liverpool, United Kingdom, for women diagnosed with CPP.MethodThe format and content of the CPP PMP at The Walton Centre, Liverpool, is described and the preliminary results from the CPP PMP are presented.ResultsPreliminary data suggest that outcomes on the specialised CPP PMP indicate that patients are able to make clinically important change across a range of outcome measures. Moreover, these results compare favourably to the established PMP for generalised chronic pain when comparing clinically significant outcomes with the Walton Centre's (a tertiary-level pain management centre) 2013 PMP Audit document. Patients attending the CPP PMP positively appraised the PMP and felt it was useful and supportive to be in a group dedicated to CPP.ConclusionsThis article presents some preliminary results that suggest there is value in delivering a specialised multidisciplinary PMP for this group. There is a clear need for further clinical research into the effectiveness of similar interventions for CPP, including the early identification of those CPP patients who may benefit from both multi-specialty and interdisciplinary management.

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