Experts and patients meet to tackle Scotland’s chronic pain

Published On Mon 23 Mar 2015 by Roddy Isles

The latest developments in tackling chronic pain suffered by people across Scotland will be discussed at a meeting of experts and patients this week at the University of Dundee.

The Scottish Pain Research Community (SPaRC) annual scientific meeting, taking place on Friday March 27^th, is the country’s major gathering of experts in pain management and relief, with patients also playing a key part.

“Chronic pain is common to many major diseases and conditions and affects hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland,” said Dr Lesley Colvin, Consultant/Reader in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and Acting Chair of SPaRC’s Chronic Pain Research group.

“There is a great deal of research being carried out as to how we can better manage pain for patients but just as importantly, and a crucial feature of what is happening in Scotland, we now have the mechanisms in place that mean we can apply the results of that research effectively for the benefit of patients.

“Our meeting will look at a wide range of issues around the causes and treatment of pain, from what is being done at the molecular level aiming to discover new drugs to manage pain, to wider population-based studies relating to prescribing patterns across Scotland.

“We will also have an update on the national plan for chronic pain provision in Scotland.”

Among the keynote speakers at the event will be Paul Cameron, National Chronic Pain Co-Ordinator for the Scottish Government, and Professor Rolf-Detlef Treede, Chair of Neurophysiology from the University of Heidelberg.

The 5^th Annual Scientific Meeting of SPaRC takes place at West Park Conference Centre in Dundee on Friday March 27^th.

Speakers will be delivering 15-minute talks to an audience that will include patients and service users.

Roddy Isles
Head of Press
TEL: 01382 384910
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E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk