Thread by @xai

Here at Flippin’ Pain, we wanted to know what people thought about pain and its management so we included a survey in our last newsletter.

We had 142 responses and there’s a lot we can learn from them. #thread

Out of our 142 respondents, 114 lived with persistent pain themselves, 1 person cared for someone with pain and the rest were healthcare professionals. We targeted the questions based on these demographics.

35% of people who lived with pain felt their HCPs were ‘never’or ‘not very often’ knowledgeable about persistent pain.

Disappointingly, less than 1% thought their HCPs were knowledgeable ‘always’ or ‘most of the time’.

PAIN IS REAL.
And yet only 23% of respondents felt they were ‘always’ believed or believed ‘most of the time’ by HCPs when it came to their pain.

Commissioners! 🗣
More than two thirds of respondents felt that health services were rarely or never designed and delivered in a way that supports them.

Words that came to mind when respondents were asked about the feelings they encounter when talking to HCPs about pain?
1. Anxious
2. Hopeless
3. Sad

Let’s work on flipping this to optimistic, empowered and reassured.

We likely have a biased audience as the survey was sent with the @FlippinPain newsletter but the majority of our respondents with pain felt ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ in their understanding of persistent pain.

Most of our respondents living with pain felt that accessibility to support in their area was poor to non-existent.

Next up, the healthcare professional responses…

The most-reported feelings that HCPs reported when working with those with pain?
1. Interested
2. Helpless
3. Sad
4. Anxious

About two thirds of our HCP respondents reported ‘sometimes’, ‘frequently’ or ‘always’ lacking confidence in their own understanding of pain science.

We can help you with that!! 👇🏼

HCPs largely agreed with people who live with pain that access to care for persistent pain is difficult.

So what did we learn?

That we have work to do! Access to care for pain is difficult and the majority of HCPs who answered feel they lack understanding of persistent pain.
No wonder there is frustration and sadness among those who live with pain themselves.

@VersusArthritis and @WeAreARMA have both done ‘patient perspective’ work in this area - do take a look at their reports:

versusarthritis.org/media/23739/ch…

arma.uk.net/wp-content/upl…

How can @FlippinPain help?

If you’re someone who lives with pain, our webinars and resources offer you the latest in pain science from both professionals and people like you - and knowledge is power

flippinpain.co.uk/resources/

If you’re a healthcare professional, make sure you’re equipped with the understanding you need to help those who live with pain. Our webinar for HCPs is a good starting point:

What do you think of the results? Share your thoughts below!