New 'Pain Cafes' launch in Cornwall to help people living with chronic pain
56,000 people across the Duchy are living with symptoms
Last updated 27th Jan 2023
New Pain Cafés have launched in Cornwall to offer support to people living with chronic pain.
They are part of a five-year project to 'de-medicalise' pain management for people living with chronic pain - and will see 15 cafe setups across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Figures show around 56,000 people across the county are living with symptoms of chronic pain.
Dr Jim Huddy, Perranporth GP and ICB lead for Chronic Pain in Cornwall, said: "There's a lot of people out there with pain. What people need is skills in their lives to be able to live better with the pain and that's what we're trying to make available here. What we've done is we've trained 50 people across Cornwall, people like social prescribers, pharmacists.
"The idea is to set up peer support groups and these facilitators will come together to share their experience and learn how to live better with their condition.
"It's quite an opportunity for us to do what we're going to do and hopefully add to the scientific evidence that it works".
Leann Carr, Perranporth, who lives with chronic pain, spoke about her experience after going to the Pain Cafe in her town: "I'm a little bit shocked that people actually believe me and I feel like I haven't been through this. Maybe that I was a drama queen or I was lying or I was exaggerating what I'd been through.
"You don't talk about it. When people say how are you, you say I'm ok, I've had a bit of a bad day, but I'm alright".
Leann told us she first experienced chronic pain around 15 years ago and was first prescribed with painkillers and then antidepressents.
Leann added: "I think it's going to give them hope. It'll give them the belief in themselves that they are actually poorly, they have got a problem and that they will be listened to. You can't see it, it's almost like you're lying or skiving".
The project, led by Chronic Pain in Cornwall (CIPC), follows the mantra 'skills not pills', is nearing the end of its first year, during which 50 professionals from Cornwall's Primary Care Networks were given specialist training to help people self-manage their pain with less reliance on medication.
Sean Jennings also supports the roll-out of the five year project: "I'm somebody who's actually been there. I've been on all that medication and now I'm living my life without that medication. Hearing it from somebody like myself gives that other person hope".
The professionals who have been through the '10 Footsteps' self-management training will be given guidance on how to set up peer support groups, in the form of 'Pain Cafés - and continue to break down the stigma of living with chronic pain.